A fresh start

Martha Lacy didn’t study Laundry 101 during her undergraduate work in education nor in any of her principal preparation courses.

But as principal of David Weir K-8 Preparatory Academy, a Title I school in Fairfield, Calif., she learned that dirty clothes were often one reason children missed school. If children were unaware of their own less-than-clean T-shirts and jeans, other students soon let them know about the condition of their clothes. If a girl discovered she had no clean clothes, she just skipped school until she did have something clean to wear.

During the 2014-15 school year, 20% of the 800 students at Lacy’s school missed more than 10% of school days, the classic definition of being chronically absent. And the numbers were worse for the youngest children: 33% of students in prekindergarten and kindergarten missed 18 or more days of school.