TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — New orders from Governor Ron Desantis have local school districts working to find students with continued absences.
Hanging notices are popping up on doors across Leon County.
They're part of the district's daily attempts to find as many as 2,000 students who have either not shown up since the start of school or have demonstrated a pattern of repeated absences.
"Every day we're going out because some kids may have been attending regularly and for some reason, they fallen by the wayside and the school immediately connected with us so that we can put boots on the ground to get somebody out there to those homes to find out what is going on," said Dr. Kathleen Rodgers, the assistant superintendent of Leon County Schools.
Rodgers says her intervention services team's efforts are ongoing, with the district seeing more families having to make quick departures due to the pandemic.
"In this pandemic, we've had students who have had to move suddenly based on their economic situation, and we do understand that," Rodgers said. "They are prioritizing. The parents have to prioritize their situation, so we understand that they may not connect with their schools, and they would have to leave right away."
The district also wants to make sure parents understand the consequences they could face if those absences continue.
"Well, you know there's a statute," said Rocky Hanna, the superintendent of LCS. "We have a quote from the statute on the back of the door hanger, so parents understand the severity of not engaging with us at all. That's not an option. Just having your kids running the street or staying at home is not an option. Work with us. Work with us, communicate with us. We are there to support you and lift you up and again to meet you where you are because we don't want these children running the streets.
In September, there were only 500 LCS students truant.
