The rate of chronic school absenteeism shot up across Massachusetts this academic year, with many Cape districts surpassing the state average of 17%.
In Barnstable — the Cape’s largest school district — the percentage of students deemed chronically absent climbed to 28.6% through March, compared with 15.2% during the previous academic year, according to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
In the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District, 37% of students were absent at least 10% of the time, more than double last year’s chronic absenteeism rate of 14.8%.
Statewide, the chronic absenteeism rate is four points higher than in the 2019-20 and 2018-19 academic years.