How Providence educators are hitting the streets to help get kids back in school

  • The Providence Journal

    Linda Borg
    October 21, 2022

    PROVIDENCE — A dozen educators from the city’s public schools marched down the street in front of the Providence Place mall, wearing matching hoodies with the words “Providence Schools” and carrying red book bags full of leaflets about career and tech education.

    They are part of a new campaign to combat chronic absenteeism, defined as missing at least 10% of the school year, or 18 days in a typical 180-day school year.

    A whopping 59% of the district’s 22,000 students were chronically absent last year. Although chronic absenteeism has long been a challenge, the pandemic only exacerbated the problem, as students lost that vital connection to the classroom and the adults who stand in front of them.

    Since August, teachers and administrators have been conducting “community walks,” spreading out across the city and meeting students and families where they live – in neighborhoods, community centers and barbershops.

    The goal is to create a presence in the community – hence the hoodies and T-shirts that say, “Culture Rising.”

    “You have to model being proud of the Providence schools,” said Stephen Grace, the coordinator of student support. “I wear my hoodie out to dinner. People come up and ask me, ‘What’s up with the Providence schools?’ Then we have a conversation and that opens up a dialogue and leads to future relationships.”