Princeton Schools Tackles Chronic Absenteeism Issue

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton is a unique and diverse town encompassing residents ranging in income and immigration status. This impacts students attendance in the school system. Recently Princton Schools is teaming up with the YMCA to tackle this issue.

Princeton Family YMCA was awarded $300,000 by the Princeton Area Community Foundation to help reduce the number of students who are missing school on a regular basis.

The program began in the 2018-19 school year with the YMCA mentoring six students, the number has since grown to 18 students, Michael Roseborough, ACE Project Director/Youth Forum Leader of the YMCA said. Roseborough is spearheading this initiative.

"This is a dynamic issue that can be caused by any number of things," Roseborough said of chronic absenteeism in Princeton Schools. "We are working to engage students that encounter areas of struggle that cause them to be chronically absent inside or outside of schools."

Missing two days a month or 18 days a year is marked as chronic absenteeism.

The program is currently focusing on students in grades sixth and up who face a number of reasons they are chronically absent including having access to food and security, availability of clean clothing, access to transportation, and at home duties.

"A lot of kids may have parents who work multiple jobs or all day and the kids have to take care of their younger siblings or an elderly family member," Roseborough said.

Rosenborough also noted that immigrant families are required to check in as an entire family with state every so often which will also cause the kids to miss school.

"They are immediately disadvantaged," Roseborough said. "It becomes really easy to dip into a pattern of not attending school. Even the pace of classes and work can be more difficult for immigrant students."

To combat this issue, the YMCA assigns mentors to a family. Families can have upwards of four mentors or a three to one ratio per student.

Mentors will help the families connect with the school and parents to engage in the community by helping them find jobs, tutoring, providing transportation to school by having mentors drive students to and from school. Mentors will also connect the families with the food pantry.

"Mentors will do anything they know will help," Roseborough said.

The YMCA also hosts a family-style dinner for the families with the mentors every so often to reward their accomplishments and encourage them.

In the past two years since the program has been up and running Princeton has seen a positive change.

"In the kids we are mentoring we saw a 7 percent increase in attendance," Roseborough said. "Just looking at the [September and October] of year we saw attendance approved immediately."

September is very important to get students off on the right foot because it can set a pattern early on for the new school year, Roseborough noted.

The grant money will help fund the program for another three years and the YMCA is currently looking for more volunteers to mentor the students.

For those interested in volunteering call 609-557-7027 or email MRoseborough@princetonymca.onmicrosoft.com.

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