Over 42% of Vineland High School Students "Chronically Absent"

The New Jersey Department of Education has released their annual School Performance Reports, and new data reveals “chronic absenteeism” is still a problem throughout the state. The term “chronic absentee” is applied to any student who misses more than 10% of school.

Under law, the minimum length of a school’s academic year in New Jersey is 180 days, so students missing 20% of school are missing 36 days (assuming the minimum). That’s a lot of class time.

QUICK FACTS:

• 13.8% of students at VHS are absent more than 20% of the time.

• 15.3% of students at VHS are absent 13-19.9% of the time.

• 13.5% of students at VHS are absent 10-12.9% of the time.

Not only is this data alone alarming, VHS is performing far worse than many other schools statewide when it comes to keeping students in class. According to the report, the 13.8% of VHS students missing 20%+ of school is significantly higher than the state’s 2.9% average.