Durham students failing, leaving district during COVID pandemic

Nearly half of Durham Public Schools secondary students failed at least one class during the first three months of the school year, school district data shows.

About 55.5% of middle school and 42.8% of high school students got an “F” in one class or more during the first quarter. That was up from 31.5% of middle school and 29.7% of high school students during the same period in 2019.

The News & Observer made a public information request for the data. It shows that, for the first quarter of the 2020-21 school year, more DPS students received failing grades and missed four or more days of school during the COVID-19 pandemic than they had the previous year.

The data shows a disparity between students of color and their white peers, who as a group had fewer absences while Black and Hispanic students had more. White high school students’ attendance actually rose slightly this school year.

A total of 31,577 students are enrolled in Durham Public Schools, according to the district. The student body is 44% African-American, 33.2% Hispanic, and 19.3% white. About 4.2% of students are multiracial and just over 2% are Asian.

Kezia Goodwin, a child care professional who works with low-income DPS students, said the pandemic has exacerbated systemic challenges. Many low-income students of color may, for example, live in a household with a single parent who works outside the home, while white parents in Durham may be more able to work remotely.

“Parents have to work. They have to go out. These essential workers are out there doing what they need to do,” she said. “That leaves them to an older sibling. Maybe that older sibling can’t handle that. That’s not their role, that’s not their job.”

The district estimated 2,850 students transferred out of Durham’s public school system within the first three weeks of the quarter, which ran from Aug. 17 to Oct. 17, the data shows.

A total of 216 more students were also marked as “unaccounted for,” which means the district lost contact with them. The students could have dropped out or moved elsewhere without their parents telling the district.

Grade data is not yet available for the second quarter, which ended Jan. 15.

Pandemic makes inequities worse

“The data is concerning,” said school board member Natalie Beyer. “It shows what everyone fears. That students, like everyone, are struggling during this pandemic.”

The data received by The N&O breaks elementary, middle and high school students into five subgroups: Black, Hispanic, White, Other, Exceptional Children, and English Language Learners.

While all five subgroups received more “F” letter grades in at least once class in the first quarter of the 2020-21 school year compared to last year, some had a much higher percentage of students who failed a class than others.

About 37% of Black and Hispanic middle school students and 9.6% of white students failed a class in the first quarter of the 2019-20 school year.

After one quarter of virtual classes this school year, 58.9% of Black and 70.3% of Hispanic middle school students had failed a class. The percentage for white middle school students for that period was 22.7%.

A higher number of students in the Exceptional Children program, for kids with disabilities, and English language learning students, also received more absences and failing grades this year versus last year.

“These numbers are just amazing to me,” Goodwin said. “The EC students, the numbers, it’s hard enough for them as it is, right? And now you’re going to put them in a front of a computer and try to connect.”

Goodwin owns Kate’s Korner, a child care center that operates as a learning center in partnership with DPS for students to log into their online classrooms outside their homes.

Some of the kids she serves have parents who are homeless, she said. A week ago, two students joined the center who had never logged into any of their classes.

“There are a number of students that way,” she said. “But the students that we serve are brilliant, wonderful minded children who have lack of access, parents who are having a hard time trusting the school system, parents who don’t understand what advocating for your children means in its totality.”

In a statement, Superintendent Pascal Mubenga said teaching and learning during a pandemic brings a host of challenges for DPS students.

“In addition to the challenges of maintaining engagement during remote learning, students and their families are facing economic distress, isolation and other pressures,” he said. “We have been continuing to improve remote instruction over time, from ensuring that all students have technology and connectivity at home to increased personal outreach and intervention.”

When did the school board see the data?

DPS spokesperson Chip Sudderth said the district sent school board members the grade and attendance data electronically Dec. 18, as part of a periodic update when public meetings aren’t in session.

When asked to comment on the data, board Chair Bettina Umstead said she didn’t know if she had seen it before. After The N&O forwarded her copies of the data, she said she would need “to dig into this a little more” and call back.

Beyer also said she did not know if the school board had received the data previously. “I don’t recall it being publicly presented or discussed,” she said.

Sudderth said the data was part of a large package of board updates.

“Those can be big piles with like two or three attachments, in addition to bullet points and paragraphs about stuff. It wouldn’t surprise me if they had been overlooked,” he said.

The N&O called and left voice-mails for vice-chair Mike Lee, board member Alexandra Valladares and Jovonia Lewis, and did not hear back by 3 p.m, Thursday.

Current reopening plan

Durham Public Schools has remained remote since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic last spring.

The board voted on Jan. 7 to keep students home through spring for the rest of the traditional school year. But a bill passed by the state Senate and the House may compel the district to bring students back anyway, if it finds support from the governor.

Umstead said she supports safely re-opening schools, but opposes the bill because it takes away local control.

“I do believe that school boards know their communities best,” she said. “They know their district best and are able to make decisions based on want they know about their areas.”

Beyer said she is grateful to hear that educators will be eligible for vaccinations in N.C. beginning Feb. 24.

This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 3:21 PM.