A student approaches the entrance to Cambridge Rindge and Latin School on Nov. 13. (Photo: Marc Levy)

After a spike in chronic absenteeism two years ago, numbers are starting to go down for Cambridge Public Schools – to 21 percent from 25 percent last year, administrators said at a Tuesday meeting of the School Committee.

“We do believe that we’re on a path to recover from the chronic absenteeism that we’ve been experiencing,” superintendent Victoria Greer said.

That included the return of a student accountability measure as of Thursday that parents might recall as detention, though with some changes.

In the district’s simple metric for missing school days shown on the front page of a presentation to committee members, five days or less in an academic year is reasonable; six to nine days is concerning; and 10-plus days are too many.

Cambridge’s district has had higher chronic absenteeism than the statewide average every year back to 2015 except for two: 2021, when Cambridge was 5 percentage points lower, and the record-setting 2022, when the city and state were matched at 28 percent upon emerging from the Covid pandemic.

In a demographic breakdown, Hispanic and Latino students stood out for absenteeism at 44 percent in the high school years, according to a presentation to committee members, though that reflects a statewide trend. The figure is topped only by students with disabilities. There is also still a high rate of absenteeism for seniors at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and preschoolers of 42 percent and 43 percent, respectively. Combined with CRLS in the data is the High School Extension program, which has many students “there as a result of having difficulty attending school,” Greer said.

The high school has been working on a strategy with the goal of reducing absenteeism by 7 percentage points over the next three years, and an update will come soon on “what we think is happening there,” Greer said – including whether students are skipping because they already have the credits they need to graduate.

“It’s kind of glaring that at this point in time in the school year 42 percent of seniors are not in school,” Greer said.

Accountability for absences

Committee member Richard Harding tried to get at whether there was accountability – or consequences – that could bring back students absent without reasonable excuses, such as being sick.

Answers were slow in coming, with Greer saying she was “not aware” of the accountability measures Harding asked about. She deferred to high school principal Damon Smith, who answered with an acknowledgment that there are “a fair number of absences that are excused – extended vacations, visiting colleges, social-emotional mental health days, I’m not against any of those things.” More parents now keep kids home instead of sending them to school when they’re sick, too.

The high school has student accountability sessions “formerly known some years ago as a detention program,” Smith said, it no longer means just time spent sitting in a room – “Breakfast Club” style – for 45 minutes to an hour.

“We’re trying to pilot and bring this piece back out,” Smith said. Though he hoped the accountability sessions would start Tuesday, at least for CRLS the sessions would begin Thursday with four options for students: meet with a teacher if they’re available; do community service, though Smith didn’t want community service and punishent to be conflated; take an online course from a company called Edgenuity around social-emotional learning and skill development (an option not yet available); or “you can stay and do your time, just get work done, read a book or do whatever it might be.”

The roots of absenteeism

There was a more standard and punitive detention experience before 2019, and missing those could lead to suspension, Smith said – though many a generation of schoolkid has puzzled over the fact that the punishment for missing school was not being allowed to go to school.

“I’m happy to be getting back to it right now, but I do think that there a need for us to do that without necessarily vilifying, demonizing or putting kids on a track toward out-of-school suspension,” Smith said.

Chronic absenteeism starts “before students get to middle and high school. It usually starts early on,” Greer said, noting that “because preschool is not required, oftentimes families pick and choose when they want to send the children” for the sake of convenience.

Despite the high rates of absenteeism, the district met or exceeded its targets for all demographic groups in grades K-8, Greer said.

Budget was discussed

Also discussed during the meeting was the budget proposed for the next fiscal year. There is a projected increase of $23.3 million, taking education spending to $268.3 million from $245 million in a 9.5 percent increase, Greer said.

Salaries and benefits would go up $20.2 million, but other increases seem minuscule compared with some past years, in keeping with a citywide call for austerity: An existing-facilities and energy plan would get $1.3 million more and materials, services and technology would increase by $500,000. There would be a food service subsidies reduction of $750,000.

For the proposed budget for 2025, 84 percent ($225.7 million) goes to salaries and benefits, 5 percent ($12.2 million) to transportation, 3 percent ($8.9 million) to facilities and energy, another 3 percent ($6.8 million) to out-of-district tuition, 2 percent ($5.8 million) to instructional materials and services, 1 percent ($3.7 million) to supplies, services and equipment, 1 percent ($3.2 million) on technology and 1 percent ($2 million) on staff development.

Enrollment is projected to go up to 7,144 from 7,025.