The Prince George鈥檚 County Public Schools system has made some strides when it comes to chronic absenteeism 鈥� with the rate falling from 30% to just over 27% in the last year. While that鈥檚 progress, it鈥檚 still a number that鈥檚 way too high, interim Superintendent Shawn Joseph said.
To help drive that number down even further, he launched the “Attendance Ambassador Program,” which plans to utilize other county social service agencies, nonprofits and even the private sector to help get kids and their families the services needed to keep them in the classroom regularly.
鈥淲hen you have a chronically absent kindergartner, it’s not the kid鈥檚 problem,鈥� Joseph said. 鈥淭here’s something happening more often than not with that family, and we should be curious to figure out what’s going on and how we can be supportive in connecting resources.鈥�
Joseph said that could mean working with the county鈥檚 housing department or other social services. The business community is also invited to help tackle the problem by getting involved and offering incentives.
A prime example of lessened chronic absenteeism is at Andrew Jackson Academy in District Heights.
Belinda Coleman of The Coleman Group Inc., an intelligence and data analytics group based in Greenbelt, Maryland, has been involved with helping students there for the past few years, beginning with backpack giveaways that eventually led to the creation of a drone program.
鈥淲e meet the students where they are,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’re boosting attendance by making sure we partner with the school with other activities to create an interest for these young people.鈥�
When they鈥檙e interested, they make the extra effort to show up.
鈥淲e want them to really learn and be excited and just ignite that spark in their lives, so that they will have a lifelong career in science and technology,鈥� Coleman said. 鈥淚f they do their part, we’ll do our part.鈥�
Joseph said that can go a long way in a county that鈥檚 hamstrung by both limited resources and the failure to properly deploy what it does have.
“Prince George’s County does have limited resources, and we could do more,” he said. “Sometimes with the resources we have, there’s misalignment.”
鈥淚t sends the message: We care about you. We see you,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e understand that you might be having some challenges right now, and we won’t blame you for those challenges. We’ll help you get through those challenges.鈥�
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