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.
Stephen Pike
Stephen Pike is CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.
Massachusetts has come a long way since the first Earth Day in 1970. Our air is more breathable, our water more drinkable, our beaches are cleaner and our rivers more fishable. Equally important, our pre-pandemic economy thrived, particularly the clean energy sector. In of 2019, the state’s clean energy industry included nearly 114,000 workers and had grown nearly 90% since 2010.
But, as we celebrate this tremendous progress, we must also acknowledge the reality that these health and economic benefits have not accrued evenly across all communities in the Commonwealth. As we find the Commonwealth at a turning point in the battle against climate change, it is imperative that we confront these disparities as we pursue an equitable clean energy future.
BOURNE Plans for an independent pharmacy to host a COVID-19 vaccination clinic Friday at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School for the school’s staff and eligible members of the public have been canceled.
Roger Forget, superintendent of Upper Cape Tech, said he sent an email to school employees Monday about the clinic, which was set to be conducted by Whole Health Pharmacy in Hyannis.
But on Tuesday, Forget said, he told employees that he received word that the state Department of Public Health said the clinic would not occur.
“The disappointment and frustration felt by the staff is just overwhelming,” he said. “Our little clinic has been stopped. I can’t for the life of me understand why.”
Members of the support group Bourne Substance Free Coalition agree that the COVID-19 crisis has had a negative impact on their efforts at fighting addiction over the past year, but it has not stopped the group in its tracks. The group has stayed committed to its goals of helping people fighting addiction by providing assistance and resources.
One of the coalitionâs newest endeavors involves distribution of resource bags to people struggling with an addiction issue. The blue bags feature a graphic that shows a circle sectioned off in four quadrants, with each area featuring a different logoâBourne Fire Department, Bourne Police Department, the Bourne Substance Free Coalition, and the National Institutes of Health HEAL Initiative.
Members of the support group Bourne Substance Free Coalition agree that the COVID-19 crisis has had a negative impact on their efforts at fighting addiction over the past year, but it has not stopped the group in its tracks. The group has stayed committed to its goals of helping people fighting addiction by providing assistance and resources.
One of the coalitionâs newest endeavors involves distribution of resource bags to people struggling with an addiction issue. The blue bags feature a graphic that shows a circle sectioned off in four quadrants, with each area featuring a different logoâBourne Fire Department, Bourne Police Department, the Bourne Substance Free Coalition, and the National Institutes of Health HEAL Initiative.