Updated: Make sure you read the comments below as some interesting points have been made by readers. Also, it seems truancy rates can mean different things by region, but I think we can all agree what they mean in Natomas given the well documented crime issues and delinquency problems.
If you visit Mayor Heather Fargo’s circa 1995 City of Sacramento web site you will find a link titled “Community Issues.” When you click it, you will–not surprisingly–find ONE item in the mayor’s list:
“10 year plan to end chronic homelessness.”
Now, we know the mayor realizes there are more community issues than just homelessness; after all, her 2008 state of downtown kicked off with a resounding call for residents to help make global warming “THE” agenda item for Sacramento. Hence, I think it’s reasonable to assume the mayor has a broader awareness of problems facing the city, and just hasn’t updated her web site in three years. We can forgive her for that.
What we should NOT be so quick to forgive is Fargo and Sunshine Ray Tretheway’slack of communication and failure to prioritize the SEVERE truancy problem soaring to new heights in the Natomas School District (where one reader here reminded us Heather Fargo lives). I submit that we should be demanding to know why youth development, truancy, and juvenile delinquency is not THE focus of the city?
“Children are the future.” Anyone ever heard that one?
If a picture is worth a thousand words, the cheesy little chart I have included here may be enough for a small novel. Notice the green and dark gray lines. Those are trend lines showing how truancy at the two high schools in Natomas is substantively higher than than the state average, San Juan and Sacramento Unified averages (included for comparison), and even the overall Natomas Unified School district average.
In 2005, Inderkum High had a low 20% truancy rate. In 2006 it shot up to 50%. Last year it climbed to 60%. Natomas High is even worse, having been 42% in 2005, 20% in 2006 (which appears to be misreported), and almost 70% in 2007 (amongst the worst in all of Northern California).
Even if you try to down-compare (which Sacramentans like to do), the Natomas high school truancy rates are WAY HIGHER than the state average, which is still under 25%, despite gradual incline over the past three years.
If you think these numbers are bad, check the database and have a look at the suspension and expulsion rates for Natomas Middle School. Does anyone else find it shocking that 257 out of 764 students were suspended in the 2006-2007 school year!? What is that, like 35%? 170 of those suspensions were for “Violence/Drugs.” Allow me to spell this out:
OVER 20% OF THE STUDENT BODY AT NATOMAS MIDDLE SCHOOL WERE SUSPENDED FOR VIOLENCE OR DRUGS IN SCHOOL YEAR 2006-2007. Source: http://dq.cde.ca.gov Ca Dept of Education.
At Lee Roy Greene Middle School in Natomas 339 of 876 students were suspended. That is almost half of the student body!
How has the mayor and district 1 council person Sunshine Ray Tretheway responded so far? Fargo partnered with Macy’s, Target, and other area retailers to create a “summer job program” for PRE SCREENED youth, and suggested a SALES TAX INCREASE to create a task force to fight gangs and youth violence. Notice the same old “fire fighting” REACTIVE style of leadership that has been a hallmark of Fargo’s mayoral administration since day one.
When are residents going to demand elected officials focus on root causes and not effects? When are residents going to demand elected officials communicate statistics like these and work with the police department, probation department, school districts, county, etc etc etc to come up with solutions that do not involve taxing the working class to death? And when is District 1 Councilman Ray Tretheway going to get stomping mad and start focusing on the youth issues in Natomas and get real about ills facing Natomas?
I don’t know exactly who is to blame for the alarming truancy rate in Natomas besides the parents’ of these kids, but I do know it’s time for local media to question any official who makes outrageous claims like “Besides the deficit, the city’s in good shape” when half the city’s students are truant.
Source: http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/
Further reading: http://blog-sacramento.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-keeps-kids-in-school-anyway.html
Hey Joe,
I admire you’re stamina of pointing out community shortfalls, failing schools is a big one. I am not quite sure what city hall can do, the schools are controlled by powerful local districts and the state. Fargo and Tretheway are weak political leaders and do not have the ability or courage to make a difference, Fargo lives a few blocks from Natomas HS, and look what a shit hole school that is. What might be interesting is to look at the graduation stats for Inderkum and Natomas HS, a new web site claims that both are near 100%, that does not seem right, did the district change the numbers to look better, how many go on to college? The Charter school on Blackrock is by the far the best in our region, too bad kids from outside the district are allowed to attend, or kids of district employees, why not do a story on that, or how many parents fake their address to let their kids attend. Either way, our secondary and HS systems have big problems, if it stays the same, parents just won’t send their kids locally, a private school is the only option. I always wanted to live in a community where I could send my children to local schools.
Hi PH. I saw a sign at Kaiser on Morse today. It said “Change and the world changes with you.” I believe wholeheartedly in that mantra– especially as it applies to people in influential leadership positions (Moms and Dads who are good role models know EXACTLY what I am talking about). ATTITUDE is everything. But let’s face it, Tretheway and Fargo are anything but inspiring to young people. Neither even know how to operate an ipod from what I hear.
Doesn’t Tretheway live in South Natomas too?
I’m telling you, we need inspirational, passionate, energetic LEADERS to take this area to the next level. As long as we have lazy bureaucrats at the helm, as Sting sang “Things can only get worse.”
Thanks for sharing your thoughts
By the way, Natomas Charter School has a stellar 18% truancy rate. But it seems to me the student body is very different than Natomas High and Inderkum’s. In fact Charter is more like a private school than a public given the entrance requirements, and more importantly the very strict standards
Thanks Joe. More more more of this type stuff! These are the kinds of stats the community needs to see in order to understand how big the problems are.
PS: your chart is not “cheesy” at all. We think it is great!!!
Truancy is not the mayor’s fault. The mayor is a weak mayor position in sacto. All she does is vote like any other council member. The mayor is not a leader position and it shouldn’t be. The leader of the city is the city manager. Heather Fargo for mayor!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok I will play along. Fargo is not in a leadership position. If that is the case, she can not take responsibility for all the good things she claims she made happen either… the new 911 call center, the railyards negotiation, the midtown rehab, the 500 kazillion square feet of commercial space, etc etc etc etc. And if she can’t take responsibility for those things, she is no better qualified to be mayor than any other candidate and her campaign theme,”Progress,” is a fraud.
The bottom line is that Fargo supporters call her a great leader when citing her accomplishments, but whenever faced with criticism they play the “weak mayor” card to deflect it
School problems within the City of Sacramento not the mayor and council’s problem!!?? BWAHAHAHAHAH. They would for everyone to think they can do nothing.
The CITY and the SCHOOL BOARD are on the hook! And both should be held accountable for this snafu.
Start fining the parents!!!!!!!!!
I did not know this about Natomas Middle School. The suspensions are crazy! Such young kids too. Very sad. Very scary. Time to move out of Natomas if you are smart
I’d be interested to see what the infractions were at LeRoy F. Greene Middle School for suspensions. The principal is 0 tolerance for any bad behavior. He rocks Like tripping a kid - suspension - that would have been considered a mean prank when I was growing up. My kids managed to never be in the assistant principal’s office there though, so it can be done. Now, does this mean that every report of truancy is just an “unexcused” absence? That can mean being on a family vacation, you pulled your child out to visit grandma in the hospital for two periods (it’s a good reason, but it’s still unexcused), etc. There are tons of “unexcused” reasons for being out of class. My kids went on vacation with their dad for his family’s spring break, which meant five days out of school or 35 periods. They did their work in advance and all their teachers were aware they would be gone - still, my son ended up on Inderkum’s truant warning list.
The other thing I note is many kids are not going to be college-bound. They may not have the faculty to do it. It may be they just got such a late start they won’t pass the exit exam. They may just give up. I could wax on about that for years, but we need to address the issue of what are we going to do with all those kids who aren’t getting diplomas. We need to approach education like the Europeans - with A and O Levels - those bound for trades (and then have vocational training available) and those bound for college. No Child Left Behind is doing just that - leaving whole segments of children without the benefit of that piece of paper because they were unable to master those skills no matter how hard they tried and punishing schools for trying to work within a totally f’d up system.
Former Charter teacher here and I just wanted to let you know that out of district students are very low on the lottery priority list. Regardless of entrance requirements, charter schools are required to follow a certain admission procedure. You can earn “points” to move up in the lottery but in-district students with a quality audition are always above out of district students. As for being kids of district employees, to go to the PFAA you still have to meet the audition requirements. For the middle school Leading Edge, it’s a little different.
The big difference between there and other district schools? Parents! The parents are required to commit 30 parent hours to the school and most do much much more. When parents have to care, the students show it.
Why hold Fargo/Tretheway and others accountable? Because they allowed extreme pockets of low-income housing, took developer money and walked away. Developers were supposed to be building our schools and parks so that the district and city would have money to attend to these other problems. What did Lennar do? Nothing… they just built, sold and walked away. This is the same in most of North Natomas and is the SAME thing that happened to South Natomas in the 80’s.
It’s a catch 22. We pay for private school because over my dead body will my kid ever go to Leroy Greene or Natomas Middle. And yet we’re stuck living here so we can pay for private school.
I hold Fargo and Tretheway accountable 100% Do not let these slumlords off the hook Joe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sactoblog: Charter parent here. Yes, I know all about the volunteer hours all too well. And while they are an inconvenience, I think they do keep parents tuned in and engaged.
we can try to rationalize all day, but at the end of it, there is no denying the crime stats, the crime reports, the school reports, etc etc etc PEOPLE MAY LIE, BUT THE STATS DON’T. The area has problems. Youth development is NOT a priority of Heather Faraway Fargo or Runaway Tretheway and never has been. They are absentee slumlords and they both know it.
Lori: You asked what the particulars were for the Middle School. You can view them here at: http://tinyurl.com/5v3zxh. As to what goes into a “truancy”, according to the site Joe references, it refers to any child missing three days in a school year unexcused. That, of course, may include going to Disneyland or sleeping off a hangover. No one knows. However, Joe’s observation is stellar. When compared to the rest of the state, Natomas High especially ranks horribly. As one person observed, the City has to bear a lion’s share of the responsibility for their short-sighted vision in creating thousands of low-income apartments so quickly before school board policy and funding could accommodate and make allowances for. If done over 20 years, we wouldn’t be having this problem. Also, I was a parent of a Charter School student and it is definitely the 30 hours of parent involvement that make a difference. I remember doing a stint as an after-school homework tutor and having a wonderful opportunity to listen to one young boy as he talked about his depression and why he wanted to drop out. I was able to talk him out of it. That is the value of parent hours.
However, Joe…a little perspective here. I think we should do a little research into what the truancy percentages mean. For instance, one of the best performing districts in the state is in Irvine. All of their schools score exceptionally well on exams. But if I use the same reference material you use for this report, I get the same truancy level for Irvine High School as for Natomas High School. What occurred to me after reading your report and looking at several other wealthy districts in the state is that many parents with disposable income (as opposed to inner-city Oakland or Long Beach) take their kids out of school to go to Hawaii or San Diego. As a believer in Complexity Theory, I think that maybe the statistics on truancy, alarming as they are, really don’t tell more than a tip of the iceberg story. What is more alarming is the expulsion/suspension rates. Looking those up tells us that our district is in trouble.
Mike thanks for dropping in. Thanks for the link as well. I’m glad you recognize why I included the state average. Whatever the reason for high Natomas truancy, it is unacceptable when compared to state averages.
I agree completely about the value of parent hours at Charter and we have also seen positive results firsthand. I think it is a fine school, and I have nothing but great things to say about the staff and their low tolerance for poor academic performance and stringent requirements for parents.
Hmm.. not sure I agree. You can look at other schools like Natomas Charter where there is plenty of wealthy families and the truancy rate is 18%. Same can be said for many other high schools in “nicer” areas. I think we all know the truancy rates at Natomas High School and Inderkum are consistent with problems we are seeing in Natomas. Comparing Natomas to Irvine is an apples and oranges comparison no matter what the stats say
Sorry but the only perspective I need is the STATE AVERAGE. You can crunch numbers and make comparisons forever, but the averages don’t lie. Check Sac County average too.
I agree that Natomas schools have an overall problem. My point was that truancy may not be a good measurement of that problem. It has to be coupled to other stats to show a concern. That was why I brought in Irvine High, a school with exemplary scores. Truancy alone is not necessarily a problem. But suspension rates and violent crime rates do tell us more. Thanks again Joe for bringing these stats to the light of day
Mike, but you said yourself “wealthy district” and referred to vacations and disposable income. Do you honestly believe that is the case at Natomas High ? And if you don’t, how does that point provide any perspective?
I make assumption Natomas High kids are NOT being pulled out of class to go to Hawaii. Call me a skeptic.
As for truancy rate, I don’t think you should be comparing to wealthy neighborhoods for the same reasons you stated. THAT is precisely why I used Sacramento Unified and San Juan for my comparisons, as well as the state average. So the argument I have stated is ‘WHEN COMPARED TO NEIGHBORING DISTRICTS..” *not* when compared to 90210
It’s actually possible to take your kids on vacation and file for Independent Study and not have a truancy problem. I did many IS packets at Charter. The school gets paid, the kids get their work and everyone’s happy.
So since there’s a way to go on a fancy vacation and not be “truant”, I do believe that the truancy rate at Natomas is indicative of one of two things: 1) the administration at Natomas High is unwilling to compromise with parents and allow for occasional independent study or 2) The school sucks and kids skip all the time. I’m willing to bet #2 is more likely. I’ve spent significant time on their campus and it is not awe inspiring. One can only hope that John Eick has better plans than the last few principals.
For Lori: State Ed Code dictates what is a “suspendable” offense and it’s not really up to the principals. If someone tripped someone in the hall, the principal would have to show a repeated pattern and documented bullying before that would be suspendable. This is a link for a different school but the ed code is the same- http://www.mountmiguelhs.org/pdf/Behavior%20Code.pdf
There are plenty of other metrics we could cite, but the point remains:
WHEN COMPARED TO STATE AVERAGES AND NEIGHBORING DISTRICTS, BOTH INDERKUM AND NATOMAS HIGH HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER TRUANCY RATES AND THOSE TRUANCY RATES ARE ****ON THE RISE****
FYI: this article broke all previous site records for views in a single day. Plenty of govt. hits as well. We obviously hit a nerve
It is what it is. Why even argue? We all know Natomas high schools have bad reputations. Why even dance around the subject and try to come up with excuses for them? Irvine is not a good comparison given economic differences that skew the stats. I agree with Joe that that is an apples/oranges comparison. I also agree we all know what Natomas high school truancy stats mean. They mean kids are not at school a lot and those same kids are the ones we want to be in school the most! Think about it.
I apologize, I did NOT mean to wave the Charter flag in anyone’s face. I’m also sorry your kid(s) is on the waiting list. We sat on it too for a long time and it was NOT fun.
In any case, I can not find any fault with that school. I think it is a shining star in an otherwise dim constellation.
Our kid goes to Natomas High. As you can guess there are a lot of good kids there. But there are also a lot of bad kids there too. I think it is very important to share this type of information. I agree with other people here that you can paint the donkey any color you want but no matter how many colors you splash on it man it is still a donkey. This is good conversation here and tells me there are a lot of good people in Natomas that want better for our kids. I like that.
Joe, with all due respect, how do you reconcile your disapproval of Fargo and Tretheway ( specifically the notion that they have not prioritized youth development in Natomas) with the fact that they are largely responsible for something in the community that has a major positive impact on your family’s quality of life (Charter School)??
Just wonderin’
Easy: I don’t base my satisfaction with the community (or my definition of “progress”) strictly on my how family is faring in the Natomas Unified School District. So they got the Charter School done. Ok. Ooops: Now they’re building VERY LOW INCOME housing AND emergency shelter for battered women about 500 feet away from the school.
The spin is that this new housing is for elderly folks and battered women, but what they DON’T tell us is that those good folks will bring their kids and grand kids with them; and while we, a loving community with open hearts and open arms, welcome them here, at the same time many of us are concerned because we are already overburdened with low income housing and crime the city can not keep up with.
Just because a good school got built on a Fargo’s watch does not mean she is an effective leader. It is Charlie Leo and his staff that have made the school what it is. Leo is the one who should be praised IMHO
I started at Charter when it was a sliver on the Natomas Middle campus. The district gave us grief every moment about every pencil, every desk, every ceiling tile. General Davie and Dave Tooker should take more credit for allowing charters to open in Natomas when they were first legal. (Natomas Charter is #19 in the whole state). Pretty sure Fargo and Tretheway had little to nothing to do with any of that.
Charlie Leo and the staff there bust their humps to eek out every penny possible out of a budget to make an amazing program for the kids. I never wanted for anything as a teacher because of great leadership and amazing parents. Never once in eight years did I see Fargo… even when the school won the Kennedy award. She did show up once to pat herself on the back for a Distinguished Schools award I think.
Okay… done with tooting Charter’s horn
Consensus is in: Charter rocks. Now we need to do something about our other schools. ALL kids deserve that kind of education!!!
Our kids go to Inderkum. The school has issues, don’ worry. My daughter tells us constantly how many kids are not at school, skip school or are otherwise not interested in going to school. We have not been happy with the principals at Inderkum at all, and I know we are not alone. I know they work hard and all and I am not disrespecting anyone, but they have simply not done a good job keeping the kids coming back and I think the truancy rates joe shows here prove that hand over fist.
My kids show up for school everyday they aren’t on vacation with their father. You know who’s responsible for that? Me. Their parent. I don’t think we have to look any farther than that. That’s where it gets tricky and the endemic multi-generational social and socio-economic issues that there are no easy solutions for come into play.
I’ve got two left in school. One’s a GATE kid and one’s a special ed kid. They both go and work hard because they’ve seen by example that education is important and it’s their ticket. Whether that be vocational or college. I’ll probably have some of both. And, I know they will both have done their best. But, show up?
They’ll show up.
I hear you Lori. But it seems like the implication here is: “Truancy is to be blamed on parents and no one else.”
As a black and white statement, I agree with you 100%. But unfortunately people (parents) can not be counted on to do the right thing. That is why we have locks on our houses and cars. That is why we have truant officers. That is why we have police. I do not mean to patronize you, I’m just making a few analogies.
YOU are to be commended for being an awesome parent. People like you are responsible for all the GOOD things that happen in our country. But the bad apples, they need help, and in many cases, they need a LOT of help. Who is responsible for helping them? Many would say the government is not. I would say the government IS. I would also say in this way Fargo acts more like a Republican than a democrat.
But I digress (again — sigh). This is where the conversation splinters to partisan sides, and I’ll stop short of crossing into that territory
Case ya missed this follow up: coming soon
Joe - I don’t think you’re patronizing me - I’m just saying we can all talk until we’re blue in the face and it can’t make long-ranging change that alter the course of generations of behavior. Prisons don’t work - we have more prisoners now than we know what to do with. Taking welfare away doesn’t help. Overloading our foster care system doesn’t help. We age kids out and leave them hanging without support unless you are in one of the lucky places that have age-out programs and many of them just repeat the cycle they knew. Having truant officers doesn’t seem to help. What I’m saying here is we go round and round with round and round of new politicians who all say they have the solution and once they get there find there is none - unless the people who are affected at the core can see it, believe the change is important, and be willing to do the work to change and we have a system of government committed to their success (which, unless the people want to change, can’t happen). But, we then have to be willing to make our streets and schools and homes safer by paying more in taxes - to agencies who are incompetent and so entrenched in bureaucracy that the people needing service still don’t get what they need. Sure, there are some programs that work, sure there some are tax dollars that are used effectively - I’m generalizing. And, I’m the fuzziest minded liberal on the planet - almost.
“..we go round and round with round and round of new politicians who all say they have the solution and once they get there find there is none..”
Ok that is a bit defeatist even for glass-half-empty-Joe
What about the words I saw on a sign outside Kaiser on Morse yesterday: “CHANGE AND THE WORLD CHANGES WITH YOU”?
I still believe in the power of organized people. I will never stop believing in the possibilities.
Nah, not half glass empty - just think we ought to wipe the slate clean and start over. Maybe not all the way back to subprimal ooze though. Maybe those organized masses of people wanting to change the world (me included) might actually have the power to do something without all the BS. I would love to continue this debate over a beer sometime - but for today, I worked 12 hours and am in the middle of a move to make a difference for my kids. Have a nice day ; ) I love your optimism. I will tell my dad there is a person in Sacramento who’s rose colored glasses are even rosier than mine. Heh. Hope you blew out the stats with this one!
what about sac high. how much have they improved
since they were a public school.
[...] to Joe’s recent post, I’ve been mulling my former teaching career and the idea of what keeps kids in school anyway? [...]
The high truancy and suspension rate is appalling. In the end, it will be Lori’s children who will be the ones running the world and it will be these “statistic kids” that will be bringing Lori’s kids their pizza and washing their cars. know what I mean, Jelly bean.
What I’m trying to say is that the more kids out there the more competition the younger generation has and if my neighbor wants to give me a leg up by not being a responsible parent then so be it.