empty desks

It’s about 6:30 a.m. and 17-year-old Julia Miller, dressed in jeans and tennis shoes, is ready for school. But before she can head out, she has to wake up her two-month-old son, Logan, and feed and dress him. Miller already fed him sometime between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. and fell back asleep. “I’m exhausted,” she said as she trudged up the narrow stairs to her room in the small townhouse she shares with her mom, older brother and Logan’s father, 19-year-old Shaquille Johnson. He works afternoons in a grocery store and was walking around sleepily helping Miller with the baby.

There are nearly 1,000 babies born to teenagers in Baltimore each year, according to the Kids Count Data Center. And that has led to a lot of students missing more than 20 days of school each year, making them chronically absent.

So officials at Benjamin Franklin High school came up with a way to help teen parents balance school work and child care. They opened the city’s first all-day childcare center within a school.

The center was three years in the making. Principal Chris Battaglia spearheaded a campaign to raise nearly half a million dollars from the city school system, the state department of education, the city health department, the United Way and other donors to renovate unused space in the building. The day care center opened its doors Oct. 30.

At some schools in Baltimore city, 65 percent of students miss 20 or more days of school annually.

This month, Baltimore city school's interim Superintendent Tisha Edwards warned 61 principals that they could face disciplinary action if they don’t reduce high chronic absenteeism rates in their schools.

In the West African country of Ghana, 98 percent of the country's primary and secondary students are enrolled in school, but in some areas, a significant number do not attend classes regularly.  

Another installment in our year-long series Empty Desks: The Effects of Chronic Absenteeism

Another installment in our year-long series Empty Desks: The Effects of Chronic Absenteeism

With more than 17,000 Baltimore students missing more than 20 days of school last year, it is no surprise that school officials are seeking ways to change the climate in their schools. Last week, school police and administrators from 50 Baltimore schools attended “climate training” workshops to help them do just that.

Nearly a quarter of Baltimore city’s public school students are considered chronically absent. They miss more than 20 days of school every year. And that puts added pressure on teachers to bring those students up to speed without boring everyone else.

More than 17,000 Baltimore students miss 20 or more days of school a year. Many of these chronically absent students and their parents say transportation is a major reason for their absences. That’s because nearly 30,000 city students use public transportation to get to school—students like 13-year-old Juwan Nobel and his 9-year-old brother Javon  Nobel.