The number of students skipping school in Minneapolis has risen significantly since the pandemic. According to the Minnesota Department of Education, the rate of kids attending school regularly fell from 79% to 46% from 2019 to 2022.
Director of Student Retention Colleen Kaibel says in response to some of the wort cases where students miss 15 or more days of school, the district has created the "We Want You Back" program. Under state requirements, school districts must withdraw students who miss 15 or more days of class in a row.
"They reach out, they start by phone calls, they make home visits to find students and then they work to identify what is the cause of the chronic absenteeism," says Kaibel. "What can we do to get you back in school?"
Kaibel says the rise of e-learning is part of the problem.
"I think for the student who has found 'I can do this without being in the classroom', that is definitely contributed to a lack of attendance," she says.
Research shows middle schoolers who miss more than two weeks of class a year have only a 66% chance of graduating high school.
Across Minnesota, only 70% of students attended class at least 90% of the time during the 2021-2022 school year, according to the Department of Education report. Pre-pandemic, those numbers were closer to 85%.
There are other factors making it harder in schools, including an explosion of mental health issues for teens, and a continuing shortage of educators which makes it hard for school districts to keep up.