2 Schools Tackle Chronic Absenteeism

Fifty-six families whose young children have missed over 10 days of school will get an invitation to meet Judge Jack Keyes — and try to cut a bad habit before it gets worse.

Keyes (pictured), of New Haven Probate Court, announced the upcoming invitations at a press conference Tuesday at Strong School at 130 Orchard St.

Joined by a phalanx of local and state officials, he unveiled a new pilot program aimed at combating chronic absenteeism among the city’s youngest students. Chronic absenteeism is a citywide problem: 15.5 percent of students in grades K to 3 missed at least 10 percent of school days in 2012, compared to 8.3 percent statewide, according to DataHaven’s Community Index.

The program, called the Attendance and Engagement Clinic, will launch in upcoming weeks at Strong School and Quinnipiac School, both of which serve grades K to 3. School staff have identified 46 families at Strong School, which serves 450 kids, and 10 families at Quinnipiac School, which serves 342 kids, to participate in the program. The program, a collaboration among the probate court, the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) and the New Haven public schools, is targeting young kids because kids who are chronically absent in younger grades are more likely to keep skipping school when they get older and more likely to drop out of school.

Families whose kids are flagged for chronic absenteeism will first get a letter inviting them to meet with their principal. Then they’ll get an invitation to meet at school with Keyes, social workers from DCF, and school staff. If they accept the invitation, they’ll begin a series of workshops and private meetings aimed to help them work through problems at home — such as transportation, addiction or access to health care — that are preventing families from sending kids to school.

The clinic will be voluntary, according to schools Superintendent Garth Harries. It will focus on how to help parents improve attendance and help kids feel engaged in school. The program will also offer students scholarships at after-school programs, paid for by a state grant administered through the probate court, Keyes said.

Keyes, New Haven’s probate judge of 28 years, has handled hundreds of cases where DCF is trying to remove kids from families due to abuse or neglect. Chronic absenteeism is usually not the only problem in a household, he said, but it’s often the first sign of trouble at home. It could be a sign that a parent is struggling with addiction or mental illness. It could be a sign that a child is sick and the guardian does not have the means or transportation to bring the kid to the doctor. When poor kids get sick, they miss more school than other kids because they often lack access to good health care, he said.

Overseeing these cases, he said, he has witnessed the ​“great unfolding tragedies” of 8‑year-olds’ lives. Usually the cases come to him when it’s too late — after a ​“really bad event” has occurred, he said. The cases involve ​“a bunch of guardians, a bunch of schools and a bunch of heartbreak.” Missing school is never the sole reason a family loses custody of a child, Keyes said, but it’s often the best evidence of neglect at home because it’s easily documented.

Keyes said he aims to step in to help families before the cases land in his court. At his suggestion, the state probate court agreed to let New Haven replicate a similar Attendance Clinic that has been running in Waterbury for the past five years, also through the probate court system.

At the new clinic, Keyes will be aided by two DCF social workers, Tamekia Walton and Kareen Malcolm (pictured). Keyes was asked if parents might be hesitate to sign up for the clinic, given the reputation of DCF and the court for snatching people’s kids from them. Keyes replied that while DCF can take families to court for ​“educational neglect,” that is not the intent of the clinic, nor would that happen through the clinic.

Mayor Toni Harp said the clinic aims to help families. But ​“there is the added subconscious pressure” raised by the presence of a judge and DCF, she noted, which should ​“raise the level of concern to the families.”

“Each day a child misses school is a wasted opportunity,” Harp said. ​“To the extent that our community accepts” kids missing school, ​“it is complicit” in setting up kids for failure. ​“Once a child becomes accustomed to the idea” that they won’t be held accountable for skipping school, they’ll get the idea that they won’t be held accountable for other things, such as showing up to high school or to a job, Harp said.

Harp’s performance in the press conference shed more light on her emerging role as an education mayor: She helped a new superintendent, Harries, sell a proposal that public school families might be wary of — he turned to her to address fears that DCF staff and a judge would punish families through the program. And she used her state connections to help make the program happen. As a legislator, she worked with state Sen. Martin Looney and state Rep. Toni Walker to write the bill that established Waterbury’s attendance clinic program. Now the trio is amending that bill to include New Haven in the program. Harp said she is also working with the legislature to make sure the grant program for after-school scholarships is funded.

The program comes at no extra cost to the city, just extra time spent by DCF workers, probate staff and school officials, according to Keyes.