Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser plans to announce legislation to hold parents accountable if their children are chronically absent from the school system.
According to a report by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, 60% of high school students in Washington were chronically absent from school, and 43% of all grade levels were chronically absent during the 2022-23 school year.
At least 10 full-day unexcused absences are considered chronic absenteeism.
While Bowser cannot put parents in jail, she previewed her legislation as helping parents “get services” to prevent further truancy.
“We want to make sure that all of our systems from the courts to the attorney general are using every tool that they have — not to punish parents per se,” Bowser said on Monday, “but to make sure that they have the services that they need, and if they refuse those services, what are the consequences?”
The mayor received various reactions on social media to her plan.
“If she can find the parents,” one person said.
“She barely holds anyone accountable when they commit crimes themselves,” another person added on social media.
The district is among the worst in absenteeism, with nearly half of all students missing more than 18 school days.
Absenteeism comes as youth crime has increasingly become a problem in the district.
Three teenage girls were charged this weekend with second-degree murder for beating a 64-year-old Washington man to death.
The elderly man, Reggie Brown, was found dead in November from blunt force trauma caused by the girls, who were ages 12 and 13.
The Washington mayor insisted on Monday in a CNBC interview that crime was going down in the city.
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“I just got an update from my deputy mayor, and crime is down in all categories in Washington, D.C., especially those categories that so troubled us last year with robbery and carjackings. Down more than 30%,” she assured the host.
Overall crime in the city is down year to year, but theft continues to rise as a top crime, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
