McKee attends DC summit to discuss chronic school absenteeism

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee is in Washington DC Wednesday talking with federal lawmakers about a chronic issue here in the ocean state: absenteeism.

There is a concentrated effort in Rhode Island to cut down on chronic absenteeism, leading to several statewide initiatives like Attendance Matters RI, and the Learn 365 RI campaign.

And according to state officials, we are seeing improvements.

RIDE’s data shows that 93 percent of schools are reporting fewer chronic absences than they saw this time last year.

That number comes out to around a quarter of a million fewer absences across schools.

Today’s event will see speakers including Governor McKee and RIDE Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green, the US Secretary of Education, and several other senior officials from the Biden Harris administration.

That event starts at 9:45 in Washington DC, and will be available for the public via zoom.