Petersburg's Chronic Absenteeism Has Climbed Every Year Since 2020, Reaching 39%

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Every year from 2019-20 through 2022-23, Petersburg City^↗ Schools reported a higher chronic absenteeism rate than the year before.

The rate rose from 25.0% in 2019-20 to 30.4% in 2020-21, 35.2% in 2021-22 and 38.6% in 2022-23.

The 2022-23 rate represents 1,647 chronically absent students among a published enrollment total of 4,272.

The trajectory against the state

Virginia's statewide chronic rate fell from 19.5% to 18.6% between 2021-22 and 2022-23. Petersburg moved in the opposite direction, adding 3.4 percentage points in the same period.

The gap between Petersburg and the state average widened from 13.6 points in 2019-20 to 20.0 points in 2022-23.

Inside the schools

The six Petersburg schools in the 2022-23 school-level rows all exceeded the statewide chronic rate of 18.6%. Vernon Johns Middle led at 51.4%, followed by Petersburg High at 47.9% and Pleasants Lane Elementary at 46.1%.

Walnut Hill Elementary had the lowest rate among those six schools, at 27.5% — 8.9 points above the statewide rate.

Ten divisions that never improved

Petersburg was one of 10 Virginia divisions whose chronic absenteeism rate increased every year from 2020 to 2023.

Manassas Park City^↗ recorded the steepest total climb, jumping 18.7 points to reach 31.2%. Greensville County^↗ rose 15.7 points to 33.0%. Portsmouth City^↗ reached 28.5% after climbing 11.9 points.

The data identify a pattern of consecutive increases, but do not identify why those divisions worsened.

What a 38.6% rate means

The series measures the share of students who missed more than 10% of the school year. It does not by itself establish the causes of the increase or its effects on instruction.

Petersburg's reported chronic absentee count also rose from 1,052 in 2019-20 to 1,647 in 2022-23, while its published enrollment total rose from 4,211 to 4,272.

Source: Virginia Department of Education chronic absenteeism and enrollment files; figures cover school years ending 2020 through 2023.

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Petersburg City - EdTribune VA - Virginia Education Data

Petersburg's Chronic Absenteeism Has Climbed Every Year Since 2020, Reaching 39%

The trajectory against the state

Inside the schools

Ten divisions that never improved

What a 38.6% rate means