Join Chalkbeat Detroit’s free publication to maintain up with the town’s public faculty system and Michigan training coverage.
Because the Detroit faculty district continues to discover methods to cut back persistent absenteeism, offering bicycles to college students may assist them journey to and from faculty, some board members say.
The bike concept was introduced up by Detroit Public Faculties Neighborhood District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti throughout a college board assembly on Tuesday. He mentioned district officers lately accomplished interviews with highschool college students who have been chronically absent this previous faculty 12 months and weren’t eligible for any of the incentives the district offered, corresponding to its reward card program. One of many suggestions the teenagers made to curb persistent absenteeism was bikes, Vitti mentioned.
“They felt like if that they had bikes, which may assist get them to and from faculty,” he mentioned. “It is smart within the spring and fall, it’s extra sophisticated within the winter. However I believed that was fascinating that it got here immediately from college students.”
Board Vice President LaTrice McClendon mentioned the district has a warehouse stuffed with bikes that may very well be used as a part of an attendance incentive. BridgeDetroit reached out to a DPSCD spokesperson to search out out the place the bikes got here from and what number of are within the warehouse, however has not gotten a response but.
“I hope we will take these bikes and instantly fill the wants of the scholars who’ve the request,” McClendon mentioned. “After I went in there to tour the warehouse, I used to be instructed these bikes have been sitting for 2 or three years.”
The feedback have been half of a bigger dialogue on curbing persistent absenteeism in DPSCD. Board member Sherry Homosexual-Dagnogo requested Vitti if he had a survey highlighting why college students are chronically absent from faculty.
In response, Vitti mentioned he may have a report quickly for the board primarily based on the interviews with the absent highschool college students. Throughout his superintendent’s report, Vitti mentioned the typical every day attendance price for the district barely elevated this previous faculty 12 months. Within the 2023-24 faculty 12 months, every day attendance was at 82%, and for 2024-25, the speed was at 84%. When Vitti first turned superintendent in 2017, the typical was at 80%.
Power absenteeism charges for DPSCD have dropped 10 proportion factors because the 2017-18 faculty 12 months, from 70% to 60% for 2024-25. In the meantime, Michigan’s persistent absenteeism price has elevated since 2017, going from 20% to 30% in 2023-24.
“There’s nonetheless extra work to do with pupil attendance, however we’re definitely making a distinction in getting college students to come back extra recurrently and declining persistent absenteeism as nicely,” Vitti mentioned.
Will bikes work as an incentive for higher attendance?
Power absenteeism continues to be a difficulty not solely in Detroit, however statewide and nationally as colleges recuperate from the pandemic. In keeping with a research launched final 12 months by The Related Press and The Detroit Information, roughly 1 in 4 college students within the 2022-23 faculty 12 months remained chronically absent. That represents about 12 million youngsters within the 42 states and Washington, D.C., the place the information is out there.
Through the 2023-2024 faculty 12 months, 29.5% of Michigan college students have been chronically absent, down from 30.8% the earlier 12 months. Michigan defines persistent absenteeism as lacking 10% or extra of faculty days or 18 days or extra throughout a 180-day faculty 12 months.
Lack of transportation for households performs a major position in why children aren’t getting to high school every single day, particularly in Detroit. A 3rd of residents don’t personal vehicles. DPSCD offers solely restricted faculty bus service, and none in any respect to highschool college students, who as an alternative get passes to experience metropolis buses. Within the fall, there can be an exception to that rule, with the district launching a brand new transportation pilot program that can present yellow faculty busing for college kids attending Henry Ford Excessive College and East English Village @ Finney in an effort to cut back persistent absenteeism.
All Youngsters Bike, a nationwide program that goals to show children to experience bikes by offering colleges with a biking curriculum, said that offering bicycles for college kids promotes their well being and well-being and may increase their vanity whereas serving as a option to deal with persistent absenteeism.
College districts throughout the nation have used bikes as an incentive to enhance attendance.
Earlier this 12 months, about 170 college students who recurrently miss faculty in Volusia County Faculties in Florida have been gifted bikes. A neighborhood hospital, AdventHealth Daytona Seaside and the East Volusia Market, donated the cash the district used to buy the 168 bikes and helmets. Volusia County serves Daytona Seaside and a number of other surrounding cities.
For the Carson Metropolis College District in Nevada, Carson Metropolis Mayor Lori Bagwell launched a “Mayor’s Attendance Corridor of Fame” marketing campaign final 12 months to assist cut back persistent absenteeism. In January, the town and neighborhood companions awarded the district with six bicycles per elementary faculty and one bike for every center faculty and highschool, totaling 40 bikes. Moreover, they’ve offered reward playing cards, film tickets, and different incentives.
Through the first semester of the 2024-2025 faculty 12 months, eight of the 9 colleges within the district noticed a decline in persistent absenteeism, with two colleges reducing their persistent absenteeism price in comparison with pre-COVID percentages.
And in 2023, college students within the Springfield Pubic Faculties district in Missouri have been gifted bikes by means of giveaways.
Board Secretary Ida Simmons-Brief steered on the assembly that the district ship out a survey to oldsters to search out out the explanation why their youngsters should not going to high school. She famous that transportation is a giant problem for households.
“Despite the fact that we’re the Motor Metropolis, we’ve a number of mother and father who don’t have vehicles,” Simmons-Brief mentioned.
Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You’ll be able to attain her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.
