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School 6 in Paterson, New Jersey, has a chronic absenteeism rate above 50%, significantly higher than the state average.

The school district has not fully complied with legal requirements for parent engagement and chronic absenteeism plans.

While some improvements have been made, a lack of resources and cultural changes continue to challenge efforts to reduce absenteeism.

Mary Ann Koruth reported this story as a USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism 2024 data fellow and engagement grantee.

It has taken three years for classroom attendance in the state’s public schools to show signs of recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic hit and absenteeism shot up. Yet evading even this shaky return to normalcy is a K-8 school serving some of the state’s poorest families in

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