Harlem Schools Had NYC's Lowest Attendance Rate, Data Shows

HARLEM, NY — Students in a Harlem school district had the lowest attendance rate in the city during the last school year — coinciding with a citywide drop amid the return to in-person learning, according to new data.

The data was released Friday as part of the Mayor's Management Report, which surveyed the city during the 2022 fiscal year — a period that included the full 2021-2022 public school year.

As daily attendance fell citywide, the worst-performing area was District 5, which covers much of Central Harlem and parts of East and West Harlem. The district's attendance rate was 83.3 percent last year, well below the citywide average of 88.2 percent, according to data from the Department of Education.

Across the city, attendance fell by 1.3 percent compared to the previous school year, reaching a citywide rate of 88.2 percent in the 2021-2022 school year.

Chronic absenteeism — when students miss more than 10 of school days — also increased to 41 percent, its highest level in decades, Chalkbeat reported this week. The rate was at 30 percent two years ago, when students could choose between in-person or remote learning; and stood closer to 25 percent before the pandemic.

Besides getting COVID-19 or needing to quarantine after a close contact, reasons for last year's high absenteeism could include some students' obligation to take jobs to help cover their families' expenses, care for ailing loved ones, or deal with their own mental health struggles, Chalkbeat reported.

District 5, despite its low status, improved slightly compared to 2020-2021, when its rate was 82.4 percent — again the lowest in the city. Covering more than 9,000 students and two dozen schools, the district runs mostly north of 122nd Street, spanning as far north as the Polo Grounds Houses above 155th Street.

Other Harlem districts performed better: School Districts 4, 3 and 6, which cover parts of East Harlem, West Harlem and Hamilton Heights, all recorded attendance rates between 87 and 89 percent last year, according to the city.

The best-attended school district of all was District 26 in Queens, covering neighborhoods like Bayside and Fresh Meadows, which recorded a 92.3 percent attendance rate last year.

The Department of Education did not immediately respond to questions about whether any particular factors contributed to District 5's low attendance. Its superintendent, Sean Davenport, was appointed in July, succeeding longtime leader Danika Rux.