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The percentage of students who were chronically absent in Richmond and Petersburg was about twice as high as in the state as a whole during the 2014-15 school year, according to a recent University of Virginia study.

Although the news is not good, the sliver of hope in the study is that the number of students who continually miss school in the area’s two cities is dropping.

Besides Richmond and Petersburg, Norfolk’s school district was the only other one to fare worse than the state as a whole.

Researchers working for the University of Virginia’s EdPolicyWorks research center found that 10.3 percent of students in Virginia were chronically absent during the 2014-15 school year.

In Richmond the rate was 19.7 percent, and in Petersburg it was 21.5 percent.

Despite that, chronic absenteeism has declined 15 percent statewide since the 2004-05 school year, with Petersburg falling by 24 percent and Richmond by 21 percent.

Students are considered chronically absent when they miss more than 18 days, which is 10 percent of the school year.