State Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler is putting his face front and center as officials try to get more kids back into the classroom and overcome high absenteeism rates fueled by the pandemic.
Tutwiler appears in television and radio public service announcements, billboards, transit ads, emails and social media messages in a multilingual public outreach campaign geared at increasing attendance rates that officials launched last week.
“The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted a lot of routines including the habit of attending school everyday. Even now, students are missing more days of school than before,” Tutwiler says in a 30-second commercial. “But school can be a place to heal and grow, to be with friends, to have the support of a whole team of adults. Let’s work together to make attendance a priority. After all, school is where kids belong.”
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Campaign messages refer the public to resources offered by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to combat chronic absenteeism — defined by at least 10% of days in a school year missed for any reason.
Chronic absenteeism across Massachusetts increased by 72% from 2019 to 2023, state figures show. The percentage did drop from 28% at the pandemic peak to 22% last school year as the recovery continues, but officials say too many students are still not showing up everyday.
“While students should stay home when they’re sick, regular attendance should be as much a part of students’ lives as it was before the pandemic,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a release. “We’re proud to launch this ad campaign to spread the word about resources available to families and schools to help get kids back into the classroom.”
High rates of absenteeism have been tied to risks of lower literacy and reduced academic achievement and graduation, among others. The measurable impact of the rise is “startling,” officials have said.
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, exam scores broadly reflect a wide gap between chronically absent students and others, Curtin said. On the 2023 English MCAS exam for grades three to eight, for instance, 46% of non-chronically absent students and only 25% of chronically absent students met or exceeded expectations, figures show.
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The new public outreach campaign coincides with a $4 million recovery initiative, funded with the education department’s remaining federal COVID relief allotment, to address the issue.
Participating districts and educational collaboratives are using $10,000 each from the state to create or strengthen family engagement and student tracking and monitoring programs, among other efforts.
“Absenteeism is really a manifestation of an unmet need,” Tutwiler said in a release. “We need to work with students and families to understand the barriers to attending school they’re facing — and remind them that when students aren’t in the classroom, they’re missing out on much more than their education,”
Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley in November proposed increasing the weight of chronic absenteeism in the district and school accountability system “to highlight the importance and urgency of the issue.”
The accountability system uses targets for attendance, MCAS scores, graduation rates, transportation and other metrics to evaluate districts’ performance and direct funding.
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Attendance is currently weighted at 10% of districts’ scores, but officials said the weighting could shift to prioritize the problem area. Federal requirements mandate a high level of focus on measures of achievement and growth.
“Chronic absenteeism affects almost three-quarters of the schools in our state,” Riley said in a release. “No matter where we’re from — rural, suburban or urban districts — we’re in this together as one community,”
Massachusetts families are stuck in the Middle East amid the war in Iran, and Democratic Sen. Ed Markey says the State Department needs to do more to get them home.
The Trump administration is telling Americans to leave the region, and families would love to, but they haven’t been able to get out.
Stacey Schuhwerk of Hingham has been sheltering in place in a Doha hotel since Saturday.
“We hear the missiles outside,” she said. “We can see them.”
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The Hingham mother and her son are among nearly 1,600 Americans trapped in the Middle East with no way to get home.
“Airspace is shut down. There’s no planes,” said Schuhwerk. “There’s no way to leave.”
Flights between Boston and the Middle East are canceled or delayed as travelers express anxiety over the conflict.
At first, U.S. officials told people to shelter in place and register with the State Department — something Schuhwerk did days ago.
“There’s no help there. The last time we called was 20 minutes ago, and they continue to say that ‘We don’t know anything about any plans for government help to get people out,’” she said.
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Embassies and consulates across the region — including the U.S. Embassy in Israel — have now suspended services, saying they simply can’t get Americans out.
“They did not have a plan to conduct this war, and they clearly did not have a plan as to how to evacuate innocent families,” Markey said.
The senator says his office is hearing from Massachusetts families, and he’s pressuring the Trump administration to come up with an evacuation plan fast.
“We are going to apply that pressure on the State Department until every American who wants to leave that region is out,” he said.
Back in Doha, Schuhwerk keeps watching the war outside her window.
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“The talk here is ‘How much defensive ammunition’s left?’ Good question, you know, because the missiles aren’t stopping,” she said. “So how long are we going to be safe here?”
With no clear end to this conflict, she’s worried she could be stuck there for weeks.
Happy Tuesday! While today started off dry, we’re already looking at snow out there across the area. While this event will primarily stay as rain on the Cape and islands, it will be an icy mix of snow, ice and rain for the rest of us.
The rain/snow line will continue to advance from the south to the north as the evening progresses. Before the changeover, there will be a quick coating to 2 inches for most of our area.
The threshold between the snow and rain will feature sleet and freezing rain, leading to that icing.
For the rest of the night, there will primarily be rain with continued pockets of freezing rain, leading to increasing spotty ice accretion. Be extremely careful on roads, especially since switching between rain and freezing rain can wash off any road salt.
The rain and freezing rain will exit by 6 a.m. Wednesday, but temperatures will still be close to freezing during the morning commute, so watch out for some spotty black ice.
The rest of Wednesday will be really nice! Highs will warm up to the mid 50s with the help of ample sun.
Thursday we start off in the mid 20s and top off in the mid 40s. We’ll be partly sunny with another chance for some wintry weather Thursday night. This primarily looks like some rain and freezing rain, rather than the triple threat with snow too. We’ll keep an eye on that for you.
That will continue into Friday morning. The rest of Friday: cloudy with a chance for a spot shower and highs cooler again in the upper 30s. Saturday will be dry, breezy and cloudy but gorgeous near 50 degrees! There’s a chance for some rain showers Saturday night. Don’t forget to set your clocks forward an hour before you to go bed!
Sunday we start the day mild in the 40s and make it all the way into the upper 50s with more sun. Monday and Tuesday both look bright and in the 60s! Stay tuned.
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