Only 14 of 29 students in Lisa Lua's third-grade bilingual class at Lee Elementary School showed up for school Monday....
...Some Salem-Keizer schools, such as Hoover Elementary, had absence rates as high as 60 percent Monday, district spokesman Jay Remy said. Forty-two percent of Parrish Middle School students were absent, and about 40 percent of North Salem High School students were missing....
South Salem teacher Carrie Barker reported that 72 of the 172 students in her classes were absent Monday. She said that the teacher next door had 62 out of 163 students absent.
North Salem High School Principal John Honey said the school had 743 excused and unexcused absences Monday -- more than double the usual number.
Despite the plea, both districts were reporting significant absences among Hispanic students on Monday.
We are down about 120 to 130 students at both East Union and Sierra high schools and about 20 students at Weston Ranch High School, Messer said.
Manteca Unified elementary schools that have a large Hispanic population, including French Camp, Sequoia and Lincoln, reported missing about 100 students at each site.
These students will receive a standard unexcused absence, Messer said. Which in most cases will translate to Saturday school.
The increase in in missing students was even more dramatic in Tracy Unified, where schools such as Delta Island and South/West Park were reporting significant absences.
The number of students missing from each school site varied from 6 percent to 30 percent of the student body, officials said. Tracy and West high schools saw absences increase by only 10 percent.
Delta Island is the districts smallest school and caters almost exclusively to the families of migrant farm workers. On a typical day the school has a population of 165, but only 58 students arrived Monday morning.