Detroit Kicks off $600,000 High School Bus Program To Tackle 60% Absence Rate
A new yellow bus service has started at two Detroit high schools, aiming to boost student attendance. The $600,000 test run serves East English Village Preparatory Academy and Henry Ford…
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A new yellow bus service has started at two Detroit high schools, aiming to boost student attendance. The $600,000 test run serves East English Village Preparatory Academy and Henry Ford High School.
Eight buses will transport 900 students between the schools. This marks a switch from the old system of city bus passes or family transport. The change could fix a major problem: students missing class.
Last year, six in ten Detroit students skipped 18 or more school days. While this beats the previous year's 66%, it's still much worse than the U.S. rate of 23% in 2023.
"Detroit has very high chronic absenteeism rates," said Sarah Lenhoff, associate professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Wayne State University. "There's problems with public transit – because it's not designed for students to get to school. It's designed for workers to get to work."
The numbers paint a stark picture. At Henry Ford High School, 88% of students missed too much school in 2023-24. East English Village fared worse, with a staggering 94% of students often absent.
"What we hear from the kids is 'The city buses are late' or 'It's not close to my house' or 'I'm taking two buses to get to school,'" said DPSCD Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti.
Former student Antonio Reyes watched his friend struggle with this issue. "My close best friend didn't have transportation. He was going through stuff at home, so he couldn't really get to school," Reyes said. "Parents couldn't drop them off. They had to take the city bus, and if it shut down, they'd have to wait another hour."
School staff will track bus usage closely. Low ridership might end the program early. Officials might also push students with poor attendance to switch to schools near their homes.
"What we know is that when DPSCD students miss fewer than 18 days, they are three to five times more likely to be at or above grade level in literacy and math, and to be college-ready on the SAT," Vitti said.
