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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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To: Still Thinking

So free breakfast and lunch won’t entice them to come to school. Attach free and reduced lunch to attending school.


21 posted on 04/10/2024 5:37:57 AM PDT by Sertorius (A hayseed with no Greek and dam^ proud of it)
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To: Sertorius

Maybe if they had free pot they’d show up.


22 posted on 04/10/2024 5:48:21 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: KingofZion

Here’s the problem to solve for: A poor product in the public schools and poor parenting and no respect for rules, regulations and laws.


23 posted on 04/10/2024 5:51:58 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: All

Simple ‘fix’: Elim the welfare state. Don’t want to utilize a service, don’t pay...then, @ least, the taxpayers aren’t ‘on the hook’

Otherwise, FINE the parent(s). Taxpayers ARE ‘on the hook’ & should get their $ back.


24 posted on 04/10/2024 5:59:56 AM PDT by i_robot73 (One could not count the number of *solutions*, if only govt followed\enforced the Constitution.)
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To: i_robot73

Sounds like they should cut teacher’s pay in half if they are only servicing half the students taxpayers are paying for.


25 posted on 04/10/2024 6:01:42 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: KingofZion

And, all this DGag will do is get the criminals back into class. The ones teachable will stay away — hopefully in homeschool.


26 posted on 04/10/2024 6:10:57 AM PDT by bobbo666 (Baizuo, )
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To: Bernard

Exactly. Why better yourself when your future is tied to a welfare check.


27 posted on 04/10/2024 6:14:09 AM PDT by GrannyAnn ( )
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To: 1Old Pro

Only 1/2? Have you SEEN their output’s TEST scores?


28 posted on 04/10/2024 6:43:32 AM PDT by i_robot73 (One could not count the number of *solutions*, if only govt followed\enforced the Constitution.)
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To: KingofZion

Such rampant ghosting is often rooted in feelings of hopelessness.
.......................................

From what I’ve seen it’s rooted in sociopathy. The kid is so spoiled he doesn’t go to school because he simply doesn’t want to and mommy doesn’t make him go. It’s more fun to sit home and play video games while mommy feeds him.


29 posted on 04/10/2024 6:55:16 AM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: KingofZion

It could be too a percentage don’t want to deal with the violence, chaos and depravity of the San Francisco school district.


30 posted on 04/10/2024 6:57:35 AM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: KingofZion
A city high school with an enrollment of 250? There is more to this story.

It's not your average high school. It is an alternative school for kid who already can't handle a regular classroom.

https://www.sfusd.edu/school/ida-b-wells-high-school

31 posted on 04/10/2024 7:07:09 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: KingofZion

“As a continuation high school with predominantly Black, brown and low-income students, Ida B. Wells...”


This sentence is the clue to the whole story. A ‘continuation high school’ is where kids go who can’t deal with a real high school. You know, rules, expectations, classes where things are being taught.

The name of the school is also a bit of a ‘tell’. If we name it after black person, black kids will be more likely to behave and learn. As if the kids involved know or care who or what Ida B. Wells was.

States have been raising the drop-out age for the last several years. The real reason is I suspect to ‘keep the kids off of the streets’. Yes, the absence of butts in seats does cost the district funding, but forcing unwilling kids into an institution makes the institution a prison for those kids and they treat as a prison. None of this is good for what should be the real goal of schools, education.

Imagine being a teacher in such a place. Only the most naive would actually want to teach in such a place or someone finds himself assigned there and is desperate for work.

And why does the b in black rate a capital letter but the b in brown does not?


32 posted on 04/10/2024 8:06:15 AM PDT by hanamizu ( )
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To: pfflier

Or just a school that has low enrollment. There are high schools in Chicago where there are more staff than students. Sometimes the school is left open to provide employment for the staff. The best interest of the students does not appear to be the highest priority.


33 posted on 04/10/2024 8:15:31 AM PDT by Bernard (“God's cruelest punishment is to let you reap what you sow.”)
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To: hanamizu

A novel approach was suggested by a retiring school superintendent back in the 70s. He proposed that all students be given the option of staying out of school for a semester after age 16 without formally dropping out. Every semester they could choose to come back.

The benefits of this would be having mostly students in school who wanted to be there to learn. A second benefit is that students who dropout at 16 would find out that working in a job with few skills or education does not pay very much nor provide much of a path forward. Forcing older teens to stay in school just ruins it for everyone else.

Taxpayer funded school choice would eliminate a lot of the problems we see today in public school education. It seems that only conservatives want to eliminate those problems.


34 posted on 04/10/2024 8:23:07 AM PDT by Freee-dame
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To: KingofZion

35 posted on 04/10/2024 8:27:05 AM PDT by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: KingofZion

“Ida B. Wells High School”

She would be so proud. /sarc


36 posted on 04/16/2024 8:23:28 AM PDT by simpson96
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To: momincombatboots

“...Federal dollars are tied to attendance...”

I wonder how many are “ghost pupils?” Penciled in pupils for more fed dollars??


37 posted on 04/24/2024 8:49:31 AM PDT by elpadre
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