School Committee may crack down on truants and raise grade requirements

Students at Woonsocket High School could soon be facing tougher standards, as the School Committee is mulling plans to crack down on absenteeism and raise passing grade requirements.

Committee member Vimala Phongsavanh raised both those issues during a Wednesday night meeting at the on Hamlet Street. She plans to have subcommitees develop proposed policies that could be adopted by the School Commitee later this spring.

"The chronic absenteeism rate for students at the high school is now 48 percent, or 822 students," Phongsavanh said. The chronic absenteeism rate for the entire Woonsocket school system is 31 percent.

According to Phongsavanh, the chronically absent are at risk of becoming part of "The Element," a term coined by Larry Poitras during a meeting for those Woonsocket residents near the bottom of the social ladder.

"These students are far more likely to drop out," she said. That means we'll have to pay the price in the future.

Students are considered chronically absent when they miss more than 10 days of classroom instruction during the school year.

Phongsavanh said she plans to work with the school department's health and wellness subcommittee to develop plans for a truancy board. It would consist of volunteers, including perhaps some students. Parents whose children are frequently truant would be notified of a hearing before the board. The student's truancy problem would be discussed, and some remedies proposed.

Phongsavanh said there would be no requirement for parents or students to attend the hearings, but she believes most will.

School Committee member John Donlon said the school truant officer should be encouraged to visit homes to talk to parents and guardians. "We need to hold the parents accountable for their children, not the high school," he said. "Some parents have to get into the habit of getting their children to school."

The current policy calls from school administrators to send parents a warning note when their child has been absent for 10 days.

In the past, however, students who skipped school on a regular basis could face charges in a truancy court, a system used by many school systems throughout Rhode Island. According to School Committee attorney Richard Ackerman, Woonsocket scrapped that system when it came under fire from the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Some kids were threatened with being sent to training school, and there were allegations their due process rights were violated," he said.

The ACLU went on to file a lawsuit against a number of school districts, but Woonsocket avoided those legal problems by putting an end to its truancy court, he said.

Ackerman said he foresaw no legal problems with the kind of system Phongsavanh has proposed. "It's something totally voluntary," he said. "It's great. I think it would certainly pass muster."

School Committee chairwoman Anita McGuire Forcier had harsh words for parents who allow their children to be absent. "I think it's neglect or abuse," she said.

The chairwoman also disclosed another statistic: 73 percent of Woonsocket teachers miss school for 10 days or more. "As adults we should lead by example," she said. "It's a problem all over the district."

Jeff Partington, president of the Woonsocket Teachers Guild, questioned those numbers after the meeting. "I'm  not saying they're inaccurate, but I haven't seen any statistics like that," he said.

Phongsavanh also raised the issue of passing grade requirements, something she said has been discussed by the School Department's curriculum committee. A new policy could be proposed in the near future, she said.

Currently the lowest passing grade at the high school is 60, or a D; she proposed that it be raised to 70, a low C. The School Committee endorsed lowering the requirement to 60 last year. Phongsavanh said she now regrets supporting that measure.

She noted that at the middle school level, 70 is still the passing grade. "There has to be some consistency," she said. Donlong said he favors raising requirements. "As far as I'm concerned, 60 is not a passing grade," he said. "It never was. This was done just to keep the drop out rate low."

McGuire Forcier said she believes the lower passing grade encourages some potential drop outs to stay in school. "We're giving them hope that they could pass," she said.

She suggested the committee consider raising the requirement to 65, the standard at some other schools in the area.