Bibb schools make progress on chronic absenteeism

More than 20% of Bibb County public school students were chronically absent during the academic year that just ended. While that might sound like a lot, it’s an improvement.

Jamie Cassady, the district’s assistant superintendent of student affairs, said the percentage of chronically absent students — which peaked at 53.2% in 2022 — dropped to 22.7% this year.

In the 2024-2025 school year, it stood at 28.5%.

District officials said they feel on track to halve that number by 2030. 

“I think we just continue to build off the momentum,” Cassady said.

Georgia is one of six states that adopted the 50% Challenge, organized by a coalition of three national organizations.

Prior to the pandemic, which normalized at-home learning, the state’s rate sat at 8.1%. That number jumped to 20.1% in 2021 and then peaked at 23.9% in 2022, according to the state’s attendance dashboard.

The district, which set up a truancy task force, has experimented with attendance rallies and attendance incentives to rein in its absenteeism problem.

To help kids get to class, administrators offer school-based mental health programs, support for homeless students and health clinic services.

“Those short wins are helping to impact the larger scope of things when we’re looking at our students and their school attendance and their achievement,” said Takeysha Lewis, district attendance coordinator.

The district also employs attendance teams, called breakthrough teams, in every one of its schools.

Students experiencing chronic absenteeism are assigned a sponsor, or a trusted adult in the building, to touch base with them or call their homes if they don’t show up to school.

State legislation passed in 2024 mandated attendance review teams be placed in every school with a chronic absenteeism rate greater than 15% or in school districts with a rate greater than 10%.

“Schools have really embraced that process,” Cassady said. “It also helps open up communication between the school and the parent.”

The legislation also set a June 1 deadline for every county’s School Attendance and School Climate Committee to submit an attendance protocol to the state Department of Education.

The committees evaluate the district’s school climate and identify the roles that the district, the courts and other stakeholders should play in assuring a child’s attendance. Cassady and Lewis, as well as judges and the state solicitor, are on Bibb County’s panel.

The committee’s been doing the work for years, Lewis said. The new law just puts them on a strict deadline. 

This past school year, the district filed at least 50 citations related to truancy with the court system, Lewis said, but that process is “a last resort.”

Juvenile courts in Georgia cannot penalize truant students, since it is not considered a criminal offense, but school districts can file a petition to get a hearing before a judge in order to determine whether that student requires additional services.

Before that process, though, guidance counselors reach out to a student at three absences. After seven days of missed school, the school’s social workers intervene and then the district’s truancy task force gets involved.

Social workers perform home visits, send letters and communicate with parents to bring them “up to speed,” Lewis said.

“We want to make sure that we’re providing the resources that are needed to make sure that (students have) what they need to be able to come to school and be productive,” Lewis said. “We want to cover all bases before we move forward with referring school parents to state court.”

High schools topped the list of schools with the greatest percentage of chronically absent students, with Northeast High School at the top of list at 46.5%, according to the district’s May report.

High school seniors are the group missing the most days of school.

Because school work can be completed online, “Kids today have more opportunities to get in front of the academic learning without necessarily having to be in the seat,” Cassady said. 

Even if students complete the work online, they’re still considered absent if they aren’t showing up for classes. There’s value in in-person attendance with getting face-to-face instruction time, Lewis said.

“We want to make sure that we educate the parent first on how the child benefits from being in the school building, physically,” she said.