Pasadena Unified Truancy Rates Highest in L.A. County in 2011-12 (Map)

The number of students absent from school without an excuse was higher at the Pasadena Unified School in 2011-12 than anywhere else in the county, according to recently released state figures.

According to those figures, 66 percent of PUSD students were truant at least once in 2011-12.  That compares with 32.4 percent of students in L.A. County and a 28.5 percent average statewide.

Altadena Elementary, Cleveland Elementary and San Rafael Elementary were among the highest rates in the district, all reporting truancy rates at 90 percent or higher.

PUSD spokeswoman Hilda Ramirez Horvath said the district has been aware of the problem and has been working on it over the last few years.

She said the issues have not been entirely about attendance - part of the problem, she said, has been teacher confusion about what constitutes an unexcused absence as well as parents not always knowing they are required to send in a note explaining their children's absence from school.

She noted that the district's attendance rate was 94 percent last year and said the district is working to bring it up by having an immediate response to a student's unexcused absence with a phone call or letter to inform parents.

The next closest school districts in truancy rate were Whittier City Elementary, which was just above 55 percent and Antelope Valley Union High, just above 53 percent.  The closest unified school districts were LAUSD and Long Beach Unified, both just above 43 percent. 

The data comes from a report issued in April by the California Department of Education, which looks at suspensions, expulsion and truancy at schools across the state.  More data on the subject can be found at the state's website under the 'Expulsion, Suspension and Truancy' category.

Truancy rates for each school can be found in the database above.

How to Use the Above Map and Form

The above map shows the truancy rate for each unified school district in the county.  Districts that service just one level of school are not pictured on the map.  Clicking on each district gives the suspension rate, expulsion rate, truancy rates and more.

The map's is color-coded with the greener shades having lower rates than the state average, the yellows and orange around or between the county and state average and the red's above both county and state average.

The database below the map allows you to look up more data for each school district or for any individual school in the county.  Be sure to use just one of the two categories to search; use either 'district' or 'school,' not both.

On the list of schools the database shows, schools in green have truancy rates at least 10 percent below the state average, while yellow schools are within 10 percent and red ones at least 10 percent above.

Please note the raw figures for suspensions show the number of students suspended not the total number of suspensions -- some students were suspended more than once.