Absenteeism in Buffalo public schools has been an issue for years, with teachers saying they can't teach students who don't show. The school district says the rate is getting better with attendance on the rise. But one city school teacher is releasing statistics on his missing students.
Marc Bruno is a history teacher at Riverside High School. He was injured one time in a student schuffle. He is also a Buffalo Teachers Federation activist who lost a presidential race with long-time incumbent BTF president Phil Rumore.
Bruno said the numbers do show more students in school, but he noted they can walk in the front door and be counted toward Riverside's count of 75-percent average attendance and walk then out the backdoor without attending classes.
Riverside had some academic problems. Bruno said teachers should not be disciplined for students who aren't in class to learn. Bruno said counting absences of his students shows the depth of the problem.
"I teach five classes of history. I have 133 students registered in my five classes. I have had close to six thousand absences this school year, 5,668 student absences," said Bruno.
Bruno noted, as of this past Tuesday, there was an average of 43-absences for each of his students, with the most missing from the first period. 25 of his students are the worst, with this group missing 1,800 classes or 72-absences per student.
