The passivity and enervation

Nishat987

Arthur Kirk, who founded and runs a community recreation center in West Baltimore, describes visiting a local principal last fall with a list of kids who routinely come to his center but not to school. “Oh, they come to school,” he was told "They just don't come like they should." The response infuriated him. "It's November!" he sputtered. "Why aren't they following up? Is anyone going to put a foot in those parents' ass? You feel what I'm saying? It's that bad."

On another recent trip to Baltimore, I spent an Laos Phone Number Data evening  with a staffer from Concentric Education, which has contracted with Baltimore City Schools to visit the homes of chronically absent students, not to threaten or cajole, but to listen, connect with parents, and offer to help them break down whatever barriers are keeping their kids from attending school regularly. At one home, the mother of a ten-year-old girl first cited transportation problems for her daughter's absences.



Then she explained her child would always miss at least three days a month because of her daughter's uncomfortable menstrual cycle. Next, she cited bullying. The longer we stood on the porch, the longer the list grew. I never laid eyes on the child, but it was hard not to think her school career was already drawing to a close in fifth grade. Her mother attached no discernible urgency to her daughter attending.