PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield Public Schools' "scary" attendance rates fall below the state average, and the district is trying to determine the root causes so they can be addressed. 

"Really, there's only one or two districts, Holyoke is one, that is higher than us, but there aren't a lot of full districts that rank higher than Pittsfield," Jennifer Stokes, assistant superintendent for school transformation and accountability, said after reporting that Pittsfield schools are listed as 14th in the state for chronic absenteeism. 

This was presented during Wednesday's School Committee meeting. Interim Superintendent Latifah Philips said it's essential to examine these challenges and determine why Pittsfield students are missing so much school. 

"As I continue with my entry planning, reviewing data, I am preparing to make a recommendation for something we should do for next year, and then that will also be aligned with the budget recommendation," she said. 

Chronic absenteeism is defined by 10 percent absences, which translates to 18 absences per student in a 180-day academic year. These include excused absences, unexcused absences, and suspensions. 

Stokes forewarned that the data was tough to look at before displaying a chart with chronic absenteeism rates between 2019 and 2025. Last school year, 38.6 percent of Pittsfield students were chronically absent, and 48.6 percent of students with disabilities were chronically absent. 

This is more than double the state's rate of 18.8 percent; 26.5 percent for students with disabilities. 

For the 2025-2026 school year, PPS has an 89.4 percent cumulative attendance rate, below the 92 percent goal. Only Allendale, Capeless, Williams, Egremont, and Stearns elementary schools are meeting the district's attendance goals as of October's end. 

"The attendance data is pretty scary to look at and very concerning," Stokes said. "So we want to really dig into what is the root cause of the attendance problem in Pittsfield." 

The district has coordinated focus groups to further analyze the data. They will see how absenteeism varies across students and timeframes, identify contributing factors, how existing policies and supports address (and don't address) attendance challenges, and how stakeholders define success in reducing absenteeism. 

Every school has an attendance team that meets weekly, and there is a weekly district-level team that pulls data for students who are at risk for attendance problems, Stokes reported, as well as community partnerships. 

Chair William Cameron said this almost has to be looked at student-by-student.  He commended this as an important study, recognizing that it will take a lot of work. 

"I don't think there's a reason they don't [attend school.] I think there are 100 reasons," he said. 

"Every student may have a different reason based on their own experience in school, out of school, and so to try to figure out a strategy for improving attendance, I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all strategy here. I think this is a great project to work on, but it is going to be labor-intensive." 

Phillips said it is also important to look at attendance by grade level. 

"Because at the elementary level, you're relying heavily on the parent transporting the students, so we need to understand where is the challenge there. Middle and high, there's much more independence," she said, explaining that there could be patterns within the different age levels. 

Cameron added that students who stop going to school regularly around 6 or 7 years old are "much more likely to run into all kinds of problems, including attendance issues, as they get older." The problem, he said, is that the issue spans across the entire district.

He stressed the importance of acclimating students in the lower grades. 

PPS Absenteeism by Brittany Polito

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