JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A day after the city of Jacksonville launched a new program called “Show Up to Shine,” Mayor Donna Deegan visited The Morning Show to share more details about how the program will tackle the issue of chronic absenteeism in Duval County Public Schools.
The program will include activities and incentives to help address factors that might be affecting a student’s attendance and will increase community awareness of the issue of chronic absenteeism.
“If you can actually show people the depth of the problem, you can begin to address it,” Deegan said.
Part of the approach, she said, is partnering with nonprofits and faith-based groups who have already built relationships in the community and working through them to address the root of the issues keeping kids from making it to school.
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“We work with a lot of the nonprofits and the faith organizations that are already involved with these parents. It’s about building trust to make sure that people know that we are here to truly help,” Deegan said.
And she said it’s not just about students.
“You have to give parents the tools to help them be successful because sometimes it has to do with the parents not being able to get their kids to school,” Deegan said.
She acknowledged that chronic absenteeism is a complicated, multi-faceted problem that involves underlying health and economic issues, among others.
“We want to make sure that we give kids the best possible opportunity to succeed,” Deegan said.
She said the program will address everything from getting uniforms for students who need them to making sure children can walk to school safely.
She said one approach called “Walking School Buses” involves volunteers who will walk with students to schools.
Overall, the Show Up to Shine program will involve:
- Recognizing good and improved attendance (not just perfect attendance)
- Engaging students and families in the importance of daily attendance
- Monitoring attendance data practices (and having a centralized tracking system)
- Personalizing outreach for those missing multiple days in a month
- Shifting social workers to work with families directly to remove barriers to attendance
“We all have to lift on this together if we’re going to climb out of this hole,” Deegan said.
To hear more from Deegan’s interview, watch the video at the top of this article.