Monday's parent boycott will no doubt be hailed by its supporters as a success, and dished by critics as a disaster.
But no matter where you stand on the boycott itself, one thing is indisputable: it underscored the dire state of student attendance in the Buffalo Public Schools.
On the day of the boycott, average student attendance across the district was 53 percent. That compares to 61 percent attendance the previous Monday, which was also a half-day.
With those statistics floating out in the public domain now, plenty of people are wondering whether half-days really make much sense, if only six out of 10 students are going to bother showing up.
Even on a recent full day of school, attendance in the district was only 88 percent. In 10 schools that day, less than 80 percent of the students showed up. It's hard to imagine how anyone could see that as anything but major cause for concern.
And clearly, many officials are concerned.
Some Board of Ed members, most notably John Licata, have called to reinstate attendance teachers across the district. Common Council members, led by Demone Smith, are calling for the district to reinstate truant officers.
And the superintendent agrees the district must find ways to improve attendance.
So what's being done about it?
Good question.
Despite the nearly universal agreement that the district must take steps to increase student attendance, the proposed 2011-12 Buffalo Public Schools budget does not include reinstating attendance teachers or truant officers across the district.
While you ponder that, here is a school-by-school breakdown of attendance for the past three Mondays, including the day of the boycott (May 16). Note that May 9 and 16 were both half-days, whereas May 2 was a full day of school.
The list is sorted by attendance on the day of the boycott.
| School | May 2 (full day) | May 9 (half day) | May 16 (half day) | |||
| Lorraine | 91.90% | 67.13% | N/A | |||
| BUILD | 90.28% | 49.43% | N/A | |||
| City Honors | 96.47% | 86.35% | 82.14% | |||
| International School | 95.02% | 76.78% | 78.60% | |||
| Olmsted 64 | 96.52% | 82.79% | 76.30% | |||
| Discovery School | 96.63% | 84.34% | 72.99% | |||
| da Vinci | 90.55% | 86.35% | 70.34% | |||
| Community School 53 | 89.97% | 50.50% | 69.85% | |||
| Middle Early College | 90.85% | 78.64% | 69.15% | |||
| Occupational Training Ctr | 98.36% | 78.69% | 68.85% | |||
| Olmsted 156 | 94.18% | 73.75% | 66.88% | |||
| Hutch Tech | 87.04% | 72.23% | 63.74% | |||
| Native Am. Magnet | 91.89% | 67.87% | 63.68% | |||
| Sedita | 90.97% | 60.03% | 63.40% | |||
| Pantoja | 90.63% | 71.40% | 63.03% | |||
| Lovejoy Discovery | 91.64% | 64.62% | 61.94% | |||
| BEST | 89.61% | 64.61% | 60.86% | |||
| D'Youville Porter | 92.40% | 67.08% | 60.25% | |||
| Performing Arts | 89.20% | 69.42% | 59.59% | |||
| School 81 | 94.38% | 70.71% | 59.02% | |||
| Highgate Heights | 99.33% | 60.50% | 56.71% | |||
| West Hertel | 85.08% | 56.09% | 56.51% | |||
| Grabiarz | 90.98% | 64.48% | 55.74% | |||
| Badillo | 86.23% | 55.48% | 55.56% | |||
| Waterfront | 94.22% | 65.63% | 54.87% | |||
| Erie County Health Ctr | 86.67% | 64.00% | 53.33% | |||
| Emerson | 83.45% | 74.05% | 53.24% | |||
| Campus West | 91.82% | 66.23% | 52.77% | |||
| Blackman | 89.14% | 64.30% | 52.19% | |||
| Bilingual Ctr 33 | 92.68% | 62.09% | 51.84% | |||
| Tubman | 90.10% | 60.00% | 51.55% | |||
| Hillery Park | 93.88% | 55.59% | 51.22% | |||
| Futures | 89.07% | 54.14% | 50.26% | |||
| International Prep | 79.91% | 66.35% | 50.24% | |||
| Drew Science Magnet | 91.08% | 59.06% | 50.00% | |||
| MST Prep | 86.83% | 61.62% | 50.00% | |||
| Bennett Park Montessori | 92.41% | 60.77% | 49.30% | |||
| Hamlin Park | 86.68% | 61.07% | 48.37% | |||
| Houghton | 87.96% | 63.80% | 47.55% | |||
| Makowski | 90.71% | 59.12% | 47.02% | |||
| Wright | 93.66% | 58.99% | 47.01% | |||
| Southside | 90.65% | 62.68% | 46.84% | |||
| WNY Day Treatment | 75.00% | 84.62% | 46.15% | |||
| MLK | 92.01% | 60.28% | 45.99% | |||
| North Park | 93.96% | 61.20% | 44.47% | |||
| Harvey Austin | 86.89% | 46.95% | 43.60% | |||
| McKinley | 76.39% | 40.10% | 43.54% | |||
| Roosevelt | 89.92% | 50.00% | 42.55% | |||
| Lafayette | 72.46% | 51.02% | 42.54% | |||
| ECC 82 | 91.45% | 50.00% | 42.34% | |||
| Drew Science ECC | 90.79% | 57.11% | 41.37% | |||
| Burgard | 72.60% | 47.26% | 39.56% | |||
| Riverside | 71.41% | 43.51% | 37.90% | |||
| East | 70.12% | 44.41% | 36.29% | |||
| ECC 17 | 87.78% | 46.26% | 36.28% | |||
| ECC 61 | 90.57% | 43.71% | 36.16% | |||
| South Park | 77.21% | 45.57% | 35.77% | |||
| Bennett | 69.93% | 40.57% | 35.18% | |||
| Grover Cleveland | 35.48% | 22.58% | 12.90% | |||
- Mary Pasciak
E-mail me at mpasciak@buffnews.com or follow me on 
Twitter. Check out the Buffalo News' education page at www.buffalonews.com/schools.
