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Nearly 96% of students at this S.F. school are chronically absent. His job: get them back to class
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | April 5, 2024 | Connor Letournau

Posted on 04/10/2024 12:41:01 AM PDT by KingofZion

Two days a week, Vern Rustrian knocks on the doors of students who have given up on school.

This might seem like a simple assignment. But at Ida B. Wells High School, few things are straightforward...

With the highest chronic absenteeism rate in the district at almost 96%, Ida B. Wells faces huge challenges just to get teens in class. Therein lies why Rustrian has one of the hardest jobs in the San Francisco Unified School District. Though his official title is Ida B. Wells’ attendance liaison, he calls himself a “ghostbuster.”

Of the 250 students who attended Ida B. Wells last year, 239 were deemed “chronically absent” because they missed at least 10% of school days. Many students went weeks or even months at a time without stepping onto the one-building campus in the Western Addition. This past winter, overall attendance dipped below 50%.

Such rampant ghosting is often rooted in feelings of hopelessness. Rustrian, 45, works with numerous students who had developed an early habit of missing school, fallen behind in their coursework and become accustomed to hearing they weren’t good enough. By the time they transfer to Ida B. Wells, their self-esteem might be so low that they see no point in trying anymore.

Though SFUSD’s chronic absenteeism rate of 26% last year was much lower than that of Ida B. Wells, it was almost double the district’s pre-pandemic level. Similar trends have unfolded statewide and nationwide.

As a continuation high school with predominantly Black, brown and low-income students, Ida B. Wells was more susceptible to the pandemic’s attendance challenges than traditional schools. But because its chronic absenteeism rate was a staggering 93.4% before the pandemic, that number has increased only slightly.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfchronicle.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: education; idabwells
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96% truancy rate!
1 posted on 04/10/2024 12:41:01 AM PDT by KingofZion
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To: KingofZion

Ida Wells?? Is she related to miss Ida ho?


2 posted on 04/10/2024 12:46:01 AM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: KingofZion

[Ida B. Wells]

Ida B. Gone.

Ida B. Absent.

Ida B. Truant.

Ida B. Missing.

Ida B. There But I Wasn’t.

Ida B. There But I Decided Not To.


3 posted on 04/10/2024 12:46:33 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: KingofZion

“Stand and Deliver” SF style.


4 posted on 04/10/2024 12:52:56 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: KingofZion

[96% truancy rate!]

Incredible.

That being said, I wonder if there is a high-degree of drug activity, gang activity, etc. that contributes substantially to this.

If so (and it wouldn’t surprise me) it might be safer NOT to attend.

yikes


5 posted on 04/10/2024 12:55:40 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: KingofZion

Federal dollars are tied to attendance. And you thought it was because they were concerned about your child missing rucksl anal sex class.


6 posted on 04/10/2024 2:49:32 AM PDT by momincombatboots (BQEphesians 6... who you are really at war with.)
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To: KingofZion

So they went from 93% to 96%?

SMH.

Its no wonder so many kids can’t answer basic questions about anything.


7 posted on 04/10/2024 2:54:02 AM PDT by Adder (End fascism...defeat all Democrats.)
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To: momincombatboots

“Federal dollars are tied to attendance.”

And I have read more than once that the schools “cook the books” when it comes to reporting attendance for this very reason. It’s all about cha-CHING.


8 posted on 04/10/2024 2:55:26 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Navarro didn't kill himself.)
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To: KingofZion

This is about teachers keeping jobs and the Blob continuing to get tax monies


9 posted on 04/10/2024 2:57:05 AM PDT by Chickensoup
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To: KingofZion

Did the kids that attended get their tator tots?


10 posted on 04/10/2024 3:05:33 AM PDT by albie
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To: Still Thinking

No, she’s a former slave-turned-teacher and a founding member of the NAACP. She would probably be aghast at what the current students are doing, after all she and her generation had been through.


11 posted on 04/10/2024 3:10:48 AM PDT by skr (Righteousness exalteth a nation: sin is a reproach to any people. - Proverbs 14:34)
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To: KingofZion

It is time we end the mandatory school policy. If someone does not want to learn let them remain ignorant (which is no different then it is today but by forcing them to attend school their only purpose is to disrupt the classes and prevent those that want to learn a chance to learn.

Allow home schooling (the burden on the parents if the child does not learn) and charter schools where attending is a privilege not a right (so those that disrupt the classes can be expelled)

Go back to basics, english, math, history, geography, social studies and civics (each appropriate for age group). In high school music, art, and shop classes.

Teachers to be tested before being hired. If they can not pass a high school graduation test they can not be hired.

No sex education


12 posted on 04/10/2024 4:06:44 AM PDT by CIB-173RDABN (I am not an expert in anything, and my opinion is just that, an opinion. I may be wrong.)
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To: KingofZion

I’d imagine it’s a good thing. No doubt they are told they bad because they are white, bad because they are male, bad because they don’t think a man can become a woman. better off missing out on the indoctrination IMHO.


13 posted on 04/10/2024 4:10:04 AM PDT by rottweiller_inc
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To: KingofZion

BTTT


14 posted on 04/10/2024 4:13:16 AM PDT by nopardons
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To: KingofZion

“Rustrian, 45, works with numerous students who had developed an early habit of missing school, fallen behind in their coursework and become accustomed to hearing they weren’t good enough“

They make something the kid deliberately does, at the start of the sentence, sound like something that just happens to the poor thing by the end


15 posted on 04/10/2024 4:21:10 AM PDT by TalBlack (I We have a Christian duty and a patriotic duty. God help us.)
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To: KingofZion

This is really about state aid, isn’t it.


16 posted on 04/10/2024 4:24:30 AM PDT by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: KingofZion

Those poor children are missing their transgender classes!


17 posted on 04/10/2024 4:40:46 AM PDT by PTBAA
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To: KingofZion

“As a continuation high school”

In other words a school for kids who were already was behind.


18 posted on 04/10/2024 4:50:09 AM PDT by JSM_Liberty
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To: KingofZion
Such rampant ghosting is often rooted in feelings of hopelessness.

BS. It's rooted in some of the worst parenting humanity has ever seen.
19 posted on 04/10/2024 4:51:10 AM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: KingofZion
So he gets paid to be everybody's daddy. All this so the school can collect federal funds to finance the staff's lifestyle.

Easier solution - cut off all of the welfare programs in the neighborhood around the school. Make everybody their survive on whatever skills they have individually. Some parents will make their kids attend school to get a better life, but most of them won't care and nothing changes.

Oh, and wall this place off like "Escape From New York".

20 posted on 04/10/2024 5:35:29 AM PDT by Bernard (“God's cruelest punishment is to let you reap what you sow.”)
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