Chronic absenteeism is described as students missing 10% or more of school days in a calendar school year

In years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, FCPS reported chronic absenteeism rates as less than 10% and has only grown in recent post-covid years. The chronic absenteeism rate has more than doubled from the 2020-2021 calendar school year of 5.1% to 17.1% for the 2022-2023 calendar school year.

In a school board meeting in mid-November FCPS superintendent

Michelle Reid expressed that FCPS is closely examining schools attendance records and expressed plans of action to aid schools in improving student attendance.

Following Virginia Governor Glen Youngkin’s administration’s aiding school systems in combating chronic absenteeism with state tax dollars,

FCPS introduced a $1.5 million plan to help fund attendance outreach programs.

“Our intervention for last spring involved even doing double back bus routes and transportation solutions for
students who missed an early bus,” Reid said during the school board meeting in mid-November. There were a variety of phone calls, attendance staff and staff of the schools. It’s an all hands on deck to really focus
on making sure that we are connecting with families.”

While FCPS is battling its highest absenteeism rates in history, FCPS remains lower than other neighbor-
ing school districts across Virginia and D.C. According to the attendance report by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education, chronic absenteeism has slightly improved in D.C. public schooling during the 2022- 2023 calendar school year by decreasing from 48% to 43%, yet remains significantly higher than that of FCPS.