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Volunteers readying at-risk students for start of new school year in Boston

BOSTON — Dozens of volunteers spent most of Wednesday door-knocking across the city of Boston ahead of the school district's first day back to school on Thursday.

Their focus: kids who were considered chronically absent last year, and also those who dropped out.

Those volunteers hit the streets with a list of addresses and went knocking on door after door, hoping to get through to Boston Public School students who either missed as many as 80 days of school last year or decided to stop going altogether.

"We can't forget about our youth," said Jelani Lynch, a drop out re-engagement specialist for Boston Private Industry Council. "We can't."

Lynch is on a mission in the hours before the largest school district in Massachusetts returns to class.

"We let our students know, no matter what, you have to get past this step," he said.

The company Lynch works for is a non-profit that works with Boston Public Schools. He and dozens of volunteers spent hours ahead of the first day back to school knocking on the doors of students that the district is concerned about.

Related: BPS superintendent bringing belief 'everybody has value' to first school year

"When we get to a household, it seems as if the student was kind of waiting for someone to knock on their door," he said. "And honestly, that’s what it’s about."

A May 2018 Boston Public School study found about one in five students were considered off-track to graduate on time by two years or more.

The statistics show that 25% of Boston Public School students were chronically absent during the last school year.

"I know what it’s like to drop out," Lynch said. "I know what it's like to feel hopeless. I know what it's like to say school may not be for me."

Lynch shares his story of being a former drop out who was kicked out of school at 17. He can speak to the impact of the re-engagement program he does outreach for – because it's the same one that allowed him to eventually graduate.

"It's a real personal thing when we interact with students," he said.

"It takes a village to raise a child," said Juliette Toulon, a local mother.

"They're taking action, they're doing something about it," said local mother Andrea Dacosta. "At least show they care."

Parents in the city neighborhoods where this door-knocking happened all day commended the outreach program. They told Boston 25 News that many kids in their communities come from low-income households, with single parents busy working and trying to put food on the table.

Volunteers said some of the fear that may be keeping kids from wanting to return to class this year could stem from what happened last year or this summer. Lynch says trauma in the personal lives of students is a common factor in some of their absences.

"We hear about shootings in the news [...] happening in the communities. You're not thinking that these are students' families," he said.