Mississippi Boiling: Boil Water Alerts and their Impact on the Unexcused Absence Rate in Public Schools in Jackson, Mississippi

Abstract The water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, has recently made national and international headlines as a major environmental catastrophe, impacting the public health and well-being of its residents. Environmental justice concerns have focused primarily on race and class as 83% of Jackson’s residents are Black and 25% of all residents live in poverty. Lost in the conversation are the public health implications for Jackson’s most vulnerable–its children, who make up 25% of the population. Currently, the only mechanism by which residents understand the water quality issues in real-time are boil water alerts that are issued when the city determines that water is unsafe to drink. Using data on boil water alerts (BWA) collected from the City of Jackson’s Water/Sewer Business Administration Office; school attendance data from Jackson’s Public School District, and data from the American Community Survey, we add an important layer to the current conversation by analyzing how boil water alerts disrupt student learning. In 2020 alone Jackson issued 454 BWA. We show that each time a BWA is issued, unexcused absence rates statistically significantly increase by 1% - 10%. These impacts were most pronounced in elementary and high schools with the majority (> 92%) non-white student body. In two specific cases, we show statistically significant decreases in unexcused absences in schools where 100% of the student body receive free and reduced lunches.