Seizing the momentum

As a reporter in Baltimore for nearly three decades, I know this city is rich in stories. This fall, thanks to a public radio reporting grant from OSI, I have been working on a documentary on an urgent local topic– the scourge of truancy. For generations, the city’s truancy and dropout rate has led the […]

Let’s stop rewarding truant students with more time off from school

It’s good news that communities and schools are starting to pay serious attention to the problem of student absence and truancy. After all, teachers can’t teach children who simply aren’t there. Students who miss a lot of school are very likely to fail, drop out and struggle throughout their lives. Some of the renewed emphasis […]

Keeping children from missing out

My audacious idea: Track and address chronic absence in early elementary school so every child in Baltimore can reach their full potential in school and beyond. Last year, one out of six Baltimore children were chronically absent in kindergarten through third grade– meaning that they missed twenty or more schools days for excused or unexcused […]