13,000+ Duval County students listed ‘absent’ on first day of classes

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval County Public Schools said 13,030 of its students were listed as absent on the first day of the 2021-2022 school year, according to information obtained Wednesday through a public records request.

Of the 130,189 students enrolled in DCPS, 117,159 were listed as present, representing 90% of the total enrollment.

The report provided to News4Jax noted that Duval County teachers have up to 10 days to adjust their attendance numbers, indicating that these figures could change in the coming days.

The deficit tops last year’s number of 9,700 absent students during the first days of the fall semester. It prompted the district to launch massive truancy efforts to account for the ‘missing’ students.