New York City Launches Massive Anti-Truancy Campaign
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - More than more than one in five New York City public school students will have missed more than a month of classes before the end of the school year, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported.
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On Thursday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg kicked off a multi-million dollar ad blitz to battle chronic absenteeism.
"75 percent of students chronically absent in the sixth grade never graduate from high school. If that isn't an early predictor of disaster for our children and for this country, I don't know what is," Bloomberg told reporters.
Ads that say "It's 9 a.m. Do you know where your kids are?" that will appear in subway stations, on bus shelters, and on millions of MetroCards.
"We're starting this campaign now because school absenteeism typically spikes during May and June," Bloomberg said.
In addition to the ad campaign, there are new resources for parents to better track their children's attendance at www.SchoolEveryDayNYC.org.
On May 19, libraries in all five boroughs will hold sessions to help train parents on the use of the system. They will run from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the following locations.
Manhattan: Seward Park Library, 192 East Broadway at Jefferson Street
The Bronx: Bronx Library Center, 310 East Kingsbridge Road at Briggs Avenue
Brooklyn: Central Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza
Queens: Queens Library at Flushing, 41-17 Main Street
Staten Island: Todt Hill-Westerleigh Library, 2550 Victory Boulevard past Willowbrook Road
There is also a pilot mentoring program called Every Student, Every Day, which is active in 50 schools and has engaged 31,000 students.
The mayor's office said that students with mentors gained 11,820 days of school this year.
What else do you think the city should do to tackle truancy? Sound off in the comments section below.
