More than half of Durham Public Schools high schoolers were chronically absent in the first six months of this school year, adding pressure to a district already navigating state underfunding and declining enrollment.
Across all grade levels, 37.3% of DPS students missed 10% or more of the school year, the threshold that defines chronic absenteeism. A student who misses half a day or more racks up a full absence. Short-term suspensions count toward the total.
"This is grim," said school board member Natalie Beyer at Thursday's meeting. "It's just embarrassing for Durham to be this egregiously bad."
The numbers have been troubling since the pandemic. Districtwide chronic absenteeism was 18.8% in 2018-19, spiked to 40.9% in 2021-22, and sat at 36.2% last year, the highest rate among North Carolina's 12 largest school districts. Both the state rate (24.3%) and the national rate (22%) are well below Durham's.
The gaps are sharpest along demographic lines. Since 2021-22, more than 40% of Black and Hispanic students have been chronically absent each year, running roughly 10 percentage points above statewide rates. This school year, chronic absenteeism among Hispanic students climbed to an eight-year high of 47.2%. Among English language learners, the rate reached 52.3%. Students with disabilities were absent at 44.7%, nearly double the 23.9% recorded before the pandemic.
Laverne Mattocks-Perry, senior executive director of student support services, noted the district mirrors national patterns in which historically marginalized students miss more school than white peers.
Board member Joy Harrell Goff pushed back on simple explanations. "We have babies that are staying home taking care of their siblings so their parents can find work," she said. "It's not always just the barrier of choosing not to engage in school."
The district plans to host the Greater Durham Attendance Summit this summer. Beyer, addressing state Rep. Marcia Morey, who was seated in the back of the board room, called for something bigger: a Durham-wide or even statewide attendance campaign. Morey nodded.