Why Students Miss School: Understanding Chronic Absenteeism

In this episode of THRIVEcast, we discuss the growing issue of chronic school absenteeism and the many barriers that can prevent students from attending school consistently. Through perspectives from education leaders, youth advocates, mentors, and a student, the conversation explores challenges such as transportation, out-of-district enrollment, online learning, motivation, and access to support. Centered on the experiences of Flint students while reflecting a broader national concern, this episode highlights why attendance matters and what it takes to help young people stay engaged and succeed.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

When you sit down and hear these stories, a lot of them start to sound it just sounds familiar. And one thing that parents tell us a lot is, you know, maybe I did go to my kids' school, I asked for help, I didn't feel like they I got the help they needed. Or my kid was going to school. Um, we want them in school, but it just didn't feel safe for them to be there. Or, you know, maybe they were having mental health issues, and the parent, you know, being the parent, thought, I don't want to make my kid go somewhere where they're not thriving. Um, but they don't always know what to do after that. They just know that they don't want them to be in an unsafe environment or one that doesn't help them grow at all. Um, so I think you mentioned um, you know, as service providers, if we don't know what you're going through, we can't refer, right? We don't know how to help.

SPEAKER_05 0:56

Welcome to Thrivecast, a production of the Flint Center for Educational Excellence. My name is Dawn Hibbard, and I will be your host. Our topic today is chronic school absenteeism. I have with me Sharice McLean, Director of the Parent Collaborative for the Flint Center. Hello, Dawn. Thanks for having me. Phyllisa Booker, board member of the International Academy of Flint, a kindergarten through 12th grade charter school. Hello, I'm glad to be here. Tiffany Rauser, Associate Director of Gear Up to Lead, a high school support program that empowers marginalized youth with the support, opportunities, and skills needed to obtain a diploma. Hi, thanks for having me. We also have LaDarius Bernard, a student at Academy West.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Hey, thank you for inviting me.

SPEAKER_05 1:45

And to Darius Lowe, youth mentor for Peckham Youth Services.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Hello, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_05 1:52

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10 percent or more of school days, typically 18 days or about two days per month, excused or unexcused. It is currently a major crisis in the United States educational system and has remained elevated after peaking during the COVID-19 pandemic when it reached nearly 30 percent. As of 2023-24, approximately 11 million students, or nearly one in four, were still chronically absent. That's why we're talking about this subject today, and I want to start with Sharice. In your work with the parent collaborative of the Flint Center, you have become aware of the absenteeism crisis locally and nationally. Why is absenteeism an important issue to address?

SPEAKER_04 2:42

Well, Dan, I think it's very important to start with uh our a few statistics with our our Flint kids. So let's begin with just where our Flint kids attend school. 80% of uh Flint's uh Flint residents, Flint resident kids, they actually attend school outside of their district. All right, so we have that figure there. Now, with that being said, I want you to imagine these Flint kids outside of their district, and then we think about chronic absenteeism and comparing that rate to their peers. The difference is that the Flint kids, the chronic absenteeism rate is much higher than their peers that live within that same school district, right? That's a pretty interesting uh statistic there because it's like what's what's going on? Why, why does that happen? Uh can one even say that it's oh it's because they're they live in Flint, right? A lot of oftentimes Flint gets a bad, it's gets a bad rep. Well, not in this case, right? They attend school, they may live in Flint, but they go to school elsewhere, and there's a very high percentage of chronic absenteeism. And why is it important that we actually address this issue? Because number one, it's definitely a barrier to education. You have to be in school to learn to get it. And then we deal with the the the root causes of all that, um, which I know that's something that we're going to discuss, but in order for kids to be able to be our students, our young scholars to be able to be successful, they need to be in school in in some type of capacity. Right.

SPEAKER_05 4:33

Um, Tiffany, I wanted to ask you, um, what do you see? Uh, because you're working with students who have maybe stepped out of traditional education, what do you see as some of the root causes of absenteeism and maybe why students are stepping out of traditional education and opting for something like Gear Up to lead?

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Yeah, so at GearUp, every young person that we see, we do an intake and we ask them what their barriers were, you know, why maybe they've stopped going to a traditional high school setting and how we can help them get back on track. Um, so usually the students that we work with are on an online program, and when your school is online, it can follow you anywhere. So that does cut back on like the transportation barriers that we see oftentimes, but it creates new barriers because even though your school, if it's online, it follows you, you still have to have the discipline to log in every day and you still need that support. Um, so definitely having online schooling can solve one problem, maybe cause another, if that makes sense. Um, but something that we try to do is, you know, even if they don't go to our direct high school program, is we have students that are flank kids and they're going out of district and they reach out to us for bus passes all the time. And usually it's, you know, we couldn't get to school if we didn't have this bus pass. So we try to support students, even you know, that we don't enroll in our own program just to make sure that they're still successful in school. And then for those students that are online, we make sure that we mentor them and stay in constant contact with them just so they can continue to be successful.

SPEAKER_05 6:18

I'm gonna stick with the high school theme right now and um ask Lidarius. You are a high school student. Can you give us some insight as to why at the high school level students might be stepping away from school? Or what what are what do you see as the barriers or the causes of students just not showing up?

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Um as me being a high school student in today's generation, I know I see you it's a bunch of lack of transportation, but it is a bunch of kids that are having kids. So if a kid is having a kid, how is a kid that's supposed to be in school and they have a kid that they gotta take care of? Then it's parents that are ill, that don't have anything, that's still working there, they still trying to make sure everything good. With one sibling, one parent in the household, four siblings, one older sibling, somebody gotta take all the pressure off the mom, back, or off the dad, back. Ain't nobody just gonna sit there and watch their parents go through what they gotta go through. So somebody go do what they gotta do. School is like, is it's too much going to school. You gotta worry about your grade. Then if you step away from school, it's like you got some pressure off your back. But once you step out of school, once you go to into life, no GED, no job, no none of that. So it's like it's just like you just gotta, it's like it's really where your mind is if you're not motivated to do what you're not motivated to do it, you're not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_05 7:40

What do you think schools could do that would encourage young people, even if they have some of these pressures at home, to come to school and not step out? Is there something the school could do, provide? Are there services that they might be able to provide?

SPEAKER_01 7:59

There are services. I don't I don't think it's too many problems. You there's no one problem, it's not one problem. So one service can't fix it. There's so many problems. You gotta talk to so many people. I'm not I can't tell you what I go through, it's it's a whole world out here.

SPEAKER_05 8:14

Let's step back to K-12, and I'm gonna ask Phylessa, as a board member for a charter school that goes from kindergarten to twelfth grade, um, and I know that the International Academy is located inside the city of Flint. So technically you're not a Flint community school, but you are a Flint school, uh, are is the International Academy experiencing the same level of absenteeism that maybe Sharice had spoken to about Flint kids?

SPEAKER_03 8:47

We are, we are having about twelve percent of our kids that are absent on a continuous basis, and we're finding a lot of the different um reasons for that, of course, the transportation, and one of the reasons that I found that was interesting is that kids just don't want to go, and parents are okay with letting them stay home. That's an interesting um development because that was something that was absolutely not a factor when I was growing up. If you didn't want to go, you still had to go. So I don't know if it's because this generation of kids were the generation that felt like they weren't listened to and they're kind of trying to flip that for their kids. But um I've talked to more than one parent that said she just doesn't want to go and I don't want to make her or I don't want to make him. So there's a lot of different factors that are coming into play that just weren't things that we had to deal with back in the 80s, 90s, early 2000s.

SPEAKER_05 10:17

What specifically is the International Academy doing? Are they are there any tactics that they're employing to maybe encourage families to be more engaged?

SPEAKER_03 10:28

We do. We have an attendance team and we try to uh meet with parents before they get to the 10% um attendance dismissal rate. We want to find out if it's a transportation problem, if it's clothes. Sometimes they don't have clean clothes, so we have a couple of washers and dryers at the school that the kids can use or the families can use. We want to try to um address any problems that we can. Um food, insecurities, and anything else that we think that we can do to make those kids feel more secure coming to school every day.

SPEAKER_05 11:30

I read something where a school district has employed instead of the the annual count or the fourth Friday count, they do a daily count. And I'm not sure how effective that is, but it helps them. I di I think their their goal was to identify absenteeism issues early before it had progressed to something. Um now, Sharice, you and I had spoken earlier, and you mentioned that the parent collaborative um brought up the question that sometimes a child may be ill and they may have had a long illness which caused them to have a lot of days absent, but that the issue of absenteeism or the the way schools look at it does not factor in the fact that if the child is genuinely ill, that that is also counted as if they're just not there. And and what what does the parent collaborative want to do with that? Are are they talking about some form of advocacy on on behalf of students who have that kind of absentee?

SPEAKER_04 12:38

Oh, absolutely. Uh goodness, we we see more students now with health issues than ever before, right? From uh of course, asthma is huge. And definitely um this is a reason why uh you know this particular um situation came up in a parent meeting because of the time of year, you know, and then how the temperatures just drop below, you know, zero, and then a family, right, uh a parent with the kids and no transportation, having to walk. And even if this like this particular family lives close to the school, it's still a commute, it's still a walk. Cold freezing cold is just freezing cold. So what do we do in a situation like that? Uh, you know, uh mom's transportation, she was in an auto accident, the vehicle was total, and here we are with a student with, you know, a health condition that um really is a hindrance. Mom had informed me that there are many days, especially when the temperatures are really cold and they have to get their son to school, that she would just pick him up and carry him to get him to school. So the issue with transportation is is is definitely huge as it even relates to you know to busing, if if uh family happens to live in walking distance, was considered close to the school, may not necessarily be able to get on the bus, on the school bus because of the proximity to school. So in that situation where it's it's just really cold and I'm risking, you know, the health of my child, um, or either be able to get the get my kid to school and then end up getting sick, have asthma, attack, or what have you, just because of the cold temperatures. What does a parent do? Well, here we go with keeping the child home because it's health first. I know I need to, you know, get get my kid to school, but also have to keep their health first. So, yeah, it's not a school decision, a school level decision, or a building decision. It's not even a district decision, that's state level. So that's when we get into advocacy. That's when we need to meet with the, you know, our legislators and say, hey, we need an increase and or need to be able to change, you know, the the structure of what's considered excused, non-excused, and if it is a medical excuse uh absent, then let it be that, and where it's not counted against, you know, against those minimum number of days as where it's considered chronic absenteeism. So that's the thing. And and again, that's that's state level. So, you know, neither, you know, should we point a finger and shake our finger at the schools because it's not a school or district issue. They didn't make the rule. We have to take it higher up, which is the reason why, you know, one of the reasons why the uh uh community conversation around chronic absenteeism was to get representation, uh parents, caregivers, uh, youth, uh, community orgs, right? Concerned uh community members into one space so that okay, what are some of these root causes? What are some of these issues, and how can we begin to resolve these things? And on what level? Is it a school level where it's just okay, maybe uh being very careful or considerate when making calls to the families that that the school staff do not come across as being uh you know, more like a punitive type thing, but more of a check-in. What's going on? Uh what can we do as you know, one of our guests here today had mentioned as well. How how can we assist? Right? Um, and not saying that definitely that happens across the board, but all you have to do is talk to parents. It happens. It happens. So there's some things on all levels that that can really improve, and that is the goal of the collaborative. You know, let's let's get down to the things that we can really get a a hold on and hopefully make these changes and and move in that direction. Now, you know, uh what came up today this afternoon, or what came up today is just uh uh the students, some students not wanting to just go to school. Well, uh is that advocacy? Is that a state level, you know, change? I don't know about that, but what I definitely can say, I you know, wanting to, you know, really meet with parents and caregivers, there's still root causes behind that. You know, for for a caregiver to maybe have that that mindset that it's that it's okay to not attend school. Very curious as to what what happened, where did the shift take place where that is just okay? Because as we know, I'm they that that education, life skills, you know, how to be able to even navigate through life is learned at home, but it's also learned at school as well. It's a combination of the two, you know, for our our our uh young scholars to be successful.

SPEAKER_05 18:26

Well, and I think that both Falissa and um LaDaria spoke to the pressures, you know, on a family. Falissa said that the parents don't want to make them, and there's there's something be like you said, there's a root cause behind that. What is why is the parent not wanting to force the child to do something that the child is saying is making them uncomfortable? And LaDaria spoke to the fact that the child feels responsible to the family and to help out the family unit. And so it's it sounds like one of the things that needs to be addressed is somehow supporting the family, the entire family, which, of course, here at the Flint Center, that's our our whole focus. It's the entire child, which we recognize as the also includes their parents. So if there's support needed for the parents, that might shift some of these issues off of the barrier and into the not being a barrier anymore.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Don, can I jump in there for a minute? Sure. Um that that was great conversation. And we were talking about um the parents not wanting to force um the students. Uh I was just thinking of model behavior. Um a lot of our this generation of parents, uh, mental health is at all-time high. And I believe with the awareness of mental health, um, they're realizing it um and it's taking a toll on them. And that model behavior is actually falling uh to the youth, to where they seeing that mom and dad are giving as much as they can. Um, and so as much as they can is I'm not going that far. Mom and dad are not going that far. They're not pushing me because they feeling as if, well, my child's mental health is at risk. I don't want them to end up like me. I don't want them to feel the way I feel. I feel overwhelmed. We just got over COVID, prices are increasing, all these things. And so the pressure of the child, um, not only seeing their parents struggle, seeing their parents in this state of mind where uh they feel like life is heavy, the child feels what the parent feels. And so I don't want to go to school. I don't want to uh go into a classroom to learn. I don't want to, and if you don't make me, I'm definitely not, I'm a child, I'm I'm an innocent, I'm a sponge. If you don't make me do these things, and so a kid that's has the freedom to make this decision as well as running the household, there that's not their goal, that's not their thing. And so from the mentor standpoint, you'd ask the question about what can schools do to kind of uh um I guess root for these kids to come to school. Um, what we've learned in Mentor Flint, um we incentivize um from the students to the parents. So our students, uh, Mentor Flint provides one hour of mentorship, whether it's one-on-one time or it's group mentor. Um so we have like a just point system. Hey, you come to school every day this week, at the end, we'll give you a$50 visa. Or we'll find out your favorite meal. A lot of our kids don't eat hot meals. We will you come to school this week and we'll get you long John Silvers, we'll get you that. Um and it goes beyond the student because we need the parent to be on board. Parents, they do need gas cards. So, and uh under the Peckham umbrella, um, we're able to give gas cards. We've had parents say, hey, we need food in the Fidrail. All right, look, I'm gonna have this serious conversation. We really want to get LaDarius to school. We want to bring his attendance up. We don't mind putting groceries in the house for the next two weeks as long as we make a choice here. Then we got transportation. So transportation is always gonna be a barrier. It's just never um it hasn't changed. I'm not gonna say always be a barrier, but it's it's a big barrier. Um we have. With my team of mentors, we have gone beyond to try to support that to where we will go pick up a child. And we have our own families, we have our own things that we do, but we try to overcome in every aspect. As far as mentor Flint goes, we there is no barriers. But we can't do that for every school, for every student. And so the transportation piece is always going to be a thing, but it goes back to what Miss Sharice was saying. We're sending our kids outside the district. Everybody not sick, you know. Send your kid to your local schools. If you don't like the way that the local schools are doing or operating, be the parent that speaks up, that says something to make your kid, oh, my mom is there, my dad is on. Oh, I'm gonna go to the school. You want to speak to the changes. And so parents being involved, uh, mental health and transportation, those are just key things that we see from a mentor side. Um, but it just is a the village. It takes the whole village. You it used to be if you couldn't take your child to school, ask neighbor so-and-so, you can ride with them, those things. So it's a lot. Um, but I I believe it can be the numbers can be bought down. It definitely can be bought down.

SPEAKER_05 23:13

And it does seem that the the diaspora of students out of Flint schools, you said 80% of children who live inside the city of Flint do not go to a Flint school. So it it it almost seems like that magnifies the transportation issue. Because you're one car repair away from not being able to make it.

SPEAKER_04 23:36

Absolutely. And then I think that goes back to uh Tiffany's point with the the bus passes, right? Uh you know, uh during enrollment, first week of school, first month of what have you, yeah, you know, the car is working just fine. And back and forth to school we go, no problem. But then just like you stated, Don, as soon as there's an issue, and and then don't let it be an issue that one can't afford, because then that's going to be where that car is backed up by the garage for probably quite a bit of time until you know the the parent is able to just save up. And then now here we go, either going to gear up to lead or Peckham or wherever one can go to get bus passes to commute outside of the district. So uh to Daria's point, you know, it's been you know, if one of the you know one of the reasons being that, hey, well, you know, my my district school does not offer what my child needs, then what do we do? The solution is really not to relocate, to transition to another school. It could be a short-term fix, like a right now type of thing, to just, you know, be able to provide the services that the the kid needs because the school, the student needs because the school does not is not in, does not have the capacity to provide certain services. What needs to take place is that all schools need to be able to provide all services to all students, right? Then it would not be so much of this, all this ripping and running around and then pulling out and kids going here, not this school, going to another one, not that one. Well, I'm now gonna go to a different city, and and it's just and then what does this do to our kids?

SPEAKER_05 25:35

Well, and that's part of it. Um it's I think they call it classroom churn, where with you know kids moving in and out and kids being absent, the teachers have to keep repeating themselves if kids are absent and come back, but then if they lose kids and get new kids, then they have to back up. And so the churn contributes to the lack of learning that absenteeism is magnifying as well.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Right. And I also say that the the having the parents to speak to the problem. If you're if there's something that your child struggle with and you don't let us know, we we don't know. So instead of you just instantly taking them out or going to all these different um school districts, there needs to be parents. Your voice matters as well. It's not just drop them off and go. It's like, hey, so-and-so only learns better after lunch when they eat lunch, and so that the teacher there's the communication that we know how to serve this kid and also putting your pride aside to say that you need help. There's a lot of parents that do not say anything. There's gear up, there's there's so many organizations in Flint that are willing to help these households, but we just don't, we don't, we don't know. And so if parents don't use the resources or communicate the problem, that goes along with the numbers of absenteeism as well.

SPEAKER_05 26:47

So I'm gonna throw this back at LaDarius. In your group of friends, now you said you're involved in football at your school, so you're involved in something. And you've obviously know people who've stepped out of school because of their their feelings of obligation to their family. But for the friends of yours that are still going to school, like yourself, what is it that keeps you coming back to school? What are the things that we as adults should be looking at that are bringing you back?

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Uh me personally, I just really just wanted to get it over with. It's a lot of people that's like there and like they just know they're right, like at the end of graduating, graduating right around the corner. Like, it's like why quit when you didn't do 12 years of so long doing everything you gotta do and get to the finish line and just stop running. Why? It ain't no point. And all the friends I know, like I done I done made a couple mistakes in my life, but I didn't have to realize that like everybody ain't everybody ain't got the same intention. So if your friends got the same intention as you, you around which you you are what you hang around. So if you're around people that's going to school, you ain't gonna be like, I'm at home while my friends are at school when I'm doing at home. Ain't no point. So I'm going to school with my friends, we finna play, you know. Everybody's got their own intentions. You gotta surround yourself what you want to be.

SPEAKER_05 28:04

Does it help for you to be involved in something like football?

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Yes, because if not, it's a lot of gang violence too. A couple people can't go outside without a schema. That's a lot of things. They don't want to get seen. They can't be seen at school. They can't be seen outside with their mama. They can't be seen. So it's like, yeah, if you're involved in something, you ain't got no time to do nothing on the house. So you always busy. You ain't got no time to go hang with bad friends or go do this or go do that. No, you you always busy. By the time you go home, you're tired, ready to go to sleep.

SPEAKER_05 28:36

Sound like an old man. Tiffany, you've been very quiet.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

No, I think the conversation is really good. Um, something that came up the first time we were having this conversation, the word like comp complex came up. That the issues surrounding people staying home from school, not going for, you know, extended times, it's complex, right? It could be transportation, it could be mental health, it could be family situations, it could be a lot of things. And um just going back to our process at Gear Up, those intakes, they taught us a lot. And we've sat down with hundreds of students and families, and you know, when you sit down and hear these stories, a lot of them start to sound, it just sounds familiar. And one thing that parents tell us a lot is, you know, maybe I did go to my kids' school, I asked for help, I didn't feel like they I got the help they needed. Or my kid was going to school, um, we want them in school, but it just didn't feel safe for them to be there. Or, you know, maybe they were having mental health issues, and the parent, you know, being the parent, thought, I don't want to make my kid go somewhere where they're not thriving. Um, but they don't always know what to do after that. They just know that they don't want them to be in an unsafe environment or one that doesn't help them grow at all. Um so I think you mentioned um, you know, as service providers, if we don't know what you're going through, we can't refer, right? We don't know how to help. And I think a lot of times the parents feel, maybe I did, I said something, but I didn't get what I needed, or I know that they should be in school, but I don't know what else even exists to help my student. Um, those are usually, you know, I would say that's probably 90% of the families that we get where they just feel like I don't know what to do at all. Um so one thing that we do, we make sure that we partner with a lot of organizations. Um, because like I mentioned, maybe a young person isn't great for an online school program like we have, but we want them to go somewhere. So we partner with other organizations that are doing online school or in-person school, whatever it is that a young person might need. Um, so that kind of goes back to the village conversation too, um, not just as community members, but as service providers as well. Um, Gearup convenes the Opportunity Youth Coalition. So we have over 25 service providers in Genesee County that provide these services. Um, so it could be mental health if they need support for that. It could be transportation or something with housing. And, you know, in that coalition, we get together and say, okay, what can we do as service providers? Um, but you have to hear from the parents and you have to hear from the students. And we've been really lucky to be able to go into schools and ask, like, okay, what do you need? Um, because I think it was mentioned earlier, schools might not have the capacity that you know organizations have or you know, coalitions might have. So it's really that partnership. Um, parents speak up, but they need to be supported because sometimes they speak up and they're not supported. Um, and then service providers being really receptive to what parents are saying and being willing to adjust our programming to, you know, actually help families when they voice a need.

SPEAKER_05 32:10

So I found it interesting you said that GearupToLead will give them bus passes to go to a bricks and mortar school, even if they're not in the Gearup to Lead program. So when you talk about this coalition of service providers, it sounds like an ecosystem that's willing to refer around to one another in the interest of the student. Now, I if I'm hearing it correctly, um, both Peckham and Gear Up to Lead are targeted at high school students. And we are, I mean, you know, the data is showing that the grade-specific spikes in absenteeism are primarily kindergarten, first grade, and high school. So, but the kindergarten and first grade is a little disturbing that children that young are not coming to school as often. So do we think, I mean, I'm throwing it to the people who've talked to more parents, and I'm looking at Pilasa, do we think that maybe um with children that young, the parents, as you said, the parents say, well, it's not that, you know, it's okay for them not to go. Do they just not understand how important those early grades are?

SPEAKER_03 33:18

I think that's a very important distinction that we have to make with the parents. That this is not just, oh, this is ABC's one, two, three's, and they can learn that on TV. They learn social skills, they learn how to interact with other people, how to deal with disappointment, how to eat food properly, and open packages, just l little things that you won't think of. But those are social skills that you learn at school, and the kids have to be there for the full day. Um, I think that one of the most important things is making sure that the kid is at school on time and stays until the last bell. Sometimes we have parents who want to beat the rush in the parking lot. So you consistently pick your kid up 45 minutes early. Well, that means you miss that last class, or you only get five minutes of that last class, and then surprise your kid's not doing well in the last class because they only have five minutes of it, because you don't want to be in the the pickup line. Um, so everything is so complex and so interwoven, and uh we just have to keep ticking off these pro problems one by one, and hopefully one day we'll we'll be able to, you know, get everybody where they need to be for the full day and get success in our students that way.

SPEAKER_05 35:08

I'm hearing a lot about parents, so I'm I'm gonna throw this back to Sharice because as the director of the parent collaborative for the Flint Center, you are I mean, your your group has grown to over 120 people now, if I'm correct. Yeah. And these are people who are engaging at all levels. So these are people from schools across the district, outside the district, charter schools, parents, people who don't even have children in the school system have joined your group to to come together and try and come up with ways to advocate to get all of these things that everyone in this room is talking about. The the services that are needed. Um, and but it I'm I'm hearing a common thread of parent engagement, getting the parents involved.

SPEAKER_04 35:59

Yes, absolutely. Yeah. That that truly is the the the common thread. I think also what's what's very common and one of the things that we need to to get back to is the the love for learning, like re recreating that that passion, making you know reading exciting because it's an opportunity to actually travel in one's mind, right? It's uh I see it as being um jazz, jazz music, and that's instrumental, right? One of the reasons at a very young age I fell in love with jazz, because there were no no lyrics, no words. It gave me an opportunity to even put lyrics to the music. I w I was able to be creative. So I I think if we you know really began to just tune in to, you know, how can we, you know, with this generation, you know, of young scholars, how can we recreate that love and that passion and excitement for learning? How can we create that love and passion excitement when there's so many disparities, right? When one you you know in your house you have a book, and maybe you have this excitement to read, but you look out your window, and there are just a row of abandoned, dilapidated houses. And there's someone selling drugs on the corner, and it's all these things that that just screams hopelessness. How do we have hope with so much that's going on that just literally mentally, emotionally, just eat people alive? You know, and that is being able to step outside of oneself and to to ask, hey, how you doing? Coming back to the mental health. Coming back to that, can we show up for one another intentionally, wholeheartedly? You know, that is the the foundation right there. It's not how you doing, and you keep on walking and don't even stay to get the answer. You know, which is very common. You're really not interested in in my well-being and how I'm actually doing.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

It's just a nicety and also business in it. Wanting to cheer for your child. And so from the mentor's um standpoint, is I see a lot of parents who um almost just kind of drop the child and go. And it's like, I want you to be a part of this process as well. I want you to be cheering for your child and finding every small win to be cheering for your child. I don't they don't have to be A student, they have to be B students, even they got a C and it came from a D. Just cheering for your child, because a lot of these students don't have cheerleaders. From the time they wake up to the time they go home, back to they're raising themselves. Um, and that's where my team of mentors do come along um cheering for the student, but we're only with them for so many hours of a day. They have to go back to survival mode, they have to go back to this um this life that was, you know, given to them. But just finding um we are literally just a safe space for these kids in the moment. Um, telling them all the great things that they can do and that they can overcome. But it does, it does start back at home. I have to send your child back to you. Um and so just being able to cheer uh for your child and wanting them to do great with despite everything that goes, we all are faced with troubles. And some things you cannot change. But just that I think that one good job, that one keep going, um would change the day, the morning, the afternoon of a child um to make them want to uh keep coin keep coming um to school, and that's um Well, I just enjoy doing what we do as mentors because we get to go into these schools that don't have the staff, that don't have the resources and support them um for as long as we we need to. Um it's just yeah, uh it can definitely be it can definitely be changed.

SPEAKER_04 40:08

And I'd like to also add um even to today's points, is you know, as it relates to mentors and and uh role models and having parent role models as such, such as the members of the parent collaborative, Flint Parent Collaborative, also the parent ambassadors, you know, that are in the schools. And these are parents that have, you know, verbalized, stepped up to the plate, and it's like, hey, I desire to be a part of the solution. I desire to actually be proactive and catch things before it becomes an issue. You know, so you know, the the the more parents and caregivers and concerned, you know, community members that we have uh that definitely would just adopt a school, right? Adopt a school, embrace a school, and and just you know, be that smiling face to today's point, be that person that you know you're gonna step up and be that that role model. And even if you don't have to always say too much, it's just that presence of caring that can make the world of difference where that parent or that kid and some and even staff, everyone who's not going through things. Let's not forget about the educators and and the staff as well, right? Miss days with them as well because of health issues and different things going on. It's it's not just the family, just the parents, just the kids. It's also staff as well. And that's why it's really important to have these intentional check-ins. They do help. And why? Because people begin to see, man, there's nothing, there's nothing up Miss Cherisse's sleeves, right? She's very genuine, she's real, she really cares. And that's when we begin to just break up, you know, some of that that hard rocky foundation to be able to just make a difference in someone's life, you know, to begin to show up. And that's what we're talking about. Showing up, showing up to bring the kids to school, showing up for parent engagement activities, to be involved and saying, I want to be a part of this positive change.

SPEAKER_05 42:15

So on that note, because I didn't, I mean, we've we've talked a lot about a lot of heavy things today. I would like to end on a positive note and go around the room and have everybody tell me something good that's happened. You two. I think Sheree, you know, you with the parent collaborative, you have some great stories.

SPEAKER_04 42:36

So Oh wow. Oh something is good, something good that's happened, and I don't even know where to start. Uh wow. I I think um one one would be the the growth of the collaborative in a short period of time. Uh April, it was actually April 22nd of last year. I remember we were under 40, I think like 35 members. And then uh December, just this past December, I think the the the count was around uh 79 or 80. And then as of today, you know, we're we're like knocking on the doors of 130 members. Wow. You know, so one of the things I definitely know everyone here is that parents don't care. They they care. It's just so much that's going on. And I think in and we talk about wins, you know, that's a win in itself to see so many parents and community orgs, right? All of us coming together because we do care. That's that's a beautiful thing in itself, right there. And that is a huge win.

SPEAKER_05 43:47

Well, I I think that some of that speaks to what Tiffany was saying that parents just don't know what to do for their kids. And I think that the parent collaborative is giving them that space to. Come and say, okay, what do we do? How do we do this? Because you've been running different workshops and talking about different aspects of parenting and the educational system to help parents understand it. I mean, the one coming up next is schools of choice. And what does, you know, what does that mean? How do parents navigate that? Because in this, you know, in this ecosystem, we already know that we have children going outside of their own district. So how do parents navigate that system and find the right school? All right, Philassa next, something positive. Some success story from the International Academy.

SPEAKER_03 44:37

I love the culture at International Academy of Flint because there's so many ways to succeed, and there's so many people like Tadarius was saying that cheer you on. We have um fathers that will stand outside every morning. Good morning, how you doing? What you doing? Oh, I see you got some new tennis shoes on, or oh, I like that jacket. Give me that jacket. You know, just building a good rapport with the kids and they get excited about seeing folks and speaking and learning how to speak back and interact with people. And uh it looks like, oh, you're gonna make me talk. No, it it's it's just an exciting um environment to be around. You go in and you talk to the the um folks in the front desk and they're happy to see you, and it all builds your day. So when you get to your teacher, you you've already had two or three positive experiences and you're ready. So I just love um going in and you you just sense a good solid environment. And that that gives me peace and it feels I feel like as a board member that I'm I'm contributing to that.

SPEAKER_05 46:06

And so that it's a patent on the back for everybody. Well, building good cultures speaks to something that Sharice said about this, you know, we we keep using the term the village. And so when we're saying that, that is building the good culture where the International Academy of Flint has built it in its smaller environment. That's just something we need to expand out everywhere that we have our young people coming to school. All right, Tiffany, next.

SPEAKER_02 46:33

Well, I think I mentioned earlier a lot of the young people and families that come to us are usually coming to us because they are just at their wits' end. They don't know where else to turn, they don't know what resources are there. Um so when they come to us, it they can feel just like we just need any kind of help that you can bring us kind of thing. Well, we recently um you know did some parent surveys and just how do you feel about the program? How is your student doing? Is there any more support we could build into our program, things like that? And just overwhelmingly, the parents were like, my my student has grown so much being here. And I think, you know, we might have to start a line where we welcome them like that when they come in. But I think like the idea is the same. Like, you know, I'm I'm biased because I work at GearUp, so I think it's great, but I don't think that we're doing anything that can't be replicated. When young people feel supported and when parents feel supported, they thrive. And when they have the resources that they need in the community, they thrive. So hearing back from the parents that, you know, they appreciate the support and that we can see just how students have changed and um they're reaching their goals and they're graduating, you know, something they thought they'd never be able to do. Um, we're really, really proud of that.

SPEAKER_00 47:59

Well, I have a saying that um planet seeds grow in different seasons. So um a good thing is being here, um, seeing one of my Planet Seeds um speak so well and seeing how far um Lidarius has come. Uh thank we going on two years. Um he came through Peckham and um being transparent, it was not an easy start. Uh, but seeing like the consistency of him allowing me to come into his space um and be like a big brother and him to take um the love and advice um that I offer to him. Um and I just me, uh my staff and even those from my team, and for him to apply it um and his willingness to come show up and speak uh on behalf of the youth uh just speaks volumes and so so it sounds like I'm getting choked up. But um yeah, just to see a C Planet um uh be able to speak um as well as he do uh as a win for me.

SPEAKER_05 49:01

Yeah. Well that leaves you to to wrap us up, Ladarius. Something positive that you see coming out of what we've talked about today, or something positive that you've seen in your experience maybe with Peckham or at the uh at your school.

SPEAKER_01 49:21

Um skip me.

SPEAKER_05 49:25

No, I'm not gonna skip you.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

All right, now let me stop playing though. Um so I'm not saying positive is it's more students not being like not afraid to say how they feeling. It's more students not not sugarcoating or like hiding how they feel. If it's more students at my school, like if they want something done, they they see a daughter, a trusted daughter that you can go to. It's like it's certain it's a lot of people at my school that you can talk to. It's like a lot of people that's a safe space. So I have seen that change a lot. Because at first, if you want a passionate thing, you gotta the workers gotta be passionate about what they do too. But I've seen them now, it's a lot of workers at that school that like what they're doing, that really want to see change in the people so they listen to you. So yeah, that's positive right there.

SPEAKER_05 50:04

Well, that is that that that is definitely going out on a positive note that you know that the stud the students are responding to the adults who are trying to create the positive culture. Awesome. Well, I want to thank everyone for joining us today and for having this conversation. And we look forward to continuing this conversation. Maybe next time we'll start problem solving. Okay. Bring some more people to the table. Thank you, everybody. Thanks, Dave. Thank you. You've been listening to Thrivecast. It's the podcast of the Flint Center for Educational Excellence.