Education ministry still deciding whether it will publicly post school attendance data

If parents in BC are looking for information on school attendance rates during COVID—it’s unclear whether the provincial government will decide to publicly release that data or not.

Education minister Jennifer Whiteside said at the beginning of the new year that attendance rates would be one of the key indicators that school districts will use to determine if a COVID-related functional closure needs to occur. School districts will need to inform public health if attendance rates fall 10% below normal levels for the time of year.

The Beacon asked the BC Ministry of Education if it plans to release attendance data in a similar fashion to Ontario, which publishes school absence and closure data each morning at 10:30am.

Last Friday, for example, that province’s reporting page showed that 16 schools had closed due to operational impacts of COVID-19 (0.3% of all schools in the province). Meanwhile, 337 of Ontario’s 4,844 schools had reported absence rates of over 30%—while 111 had hit the 50% mark.

It’s important to understand that those numbers come with a big caveat: the data includes all absences, including those that may not be related to COVID-19. Much of Ontario has also been dealing with extreme winter weather and heavy snow over the past few weeks, making it difficult to gauge the actual impact of COVID-19 on current attendance.

And while teachers in Ontario have criticized the lack of clarity over what happens next when a school reaches the threshold of 30% absence rates—something they have to report to local public health units—that’s data that BC hasn’t released so far at all.

The ministry didn’t at first directly answer a question from the Beacon on whether it has any plans to publicly release attendance data.

“The ministry continues to review provincial attendance data. School districts and schools are working locally with their medical health officers to communicate with parents. We recognize some schools have experienced decreased attendance at times, and when needed, schools work with their medical health officers to determine the best course of action,” an emailed statement said.

“The vast majority of the 1,571 public schools and 368 independent schools in B.C continue to be open to in-person learning. We will continue to monitor attendance for both students and staff as we navigate this wave of the pandemic.”

When the Beacon pointed out that that statement didn’t answer the initial question, the ministry said that keeping parents up to date on public health guidelines is a “key priority”—and said it’s still reviewing whether or not it will eventually release attendance data in any form.

“Province-wide student attendance data has not historically been reported, as the Ministry has only recently started collecting this data. As public health information on the virus changes, we continue to determine the best ways to ensure parents have the information they need to make decisions for their children during the pandemic, including if and how absenteeism data could be provided from the Province,” a second statement said.

“Absenteeism information by itself is not an indicator of risk, as there are many reasons a student may be absent (including for illness that is not COVID-19). The Ministry cannot collect attendance data on whether a student’s absence is a result of COVID-19.”

The Burnaby school district told the Beacon that there have been no functional closures in the district so far this term. The district wasn’t able to share any raw attendance data, but said student absences vary depending on the day.

“Attendance for students in January has been lower across the District than we would typically expect, but has also trended back up more toward normal as the month has progressed… we have been in close contact with the Fraser Health Authority and they have not recommended further action in our schools due to student absences,” the district said in a statement.