I was all set to criticize the parents of the 9,292 students in Cincinnati Public Schools who failed to make it to school on their first day.

An estimated 23.4 percent of the city's public school students weren't at their desks last Thursday, the start of the academic year.

For the 2002-03 school year, the districtwide absentee rate was 9.2 percent, according to CPS figures.

My initial reaction was "shame on the parents" for neglecting a basic duty to ensure children get their best start on schoolwork.

Such no-shows open up broader questions about the state's third-largest school system: Does this mean that parents of a quarter of the kids really don't care about education?

Does this make the bond levy that voters just passed for new and renovated schools a waste of money? New buildings are worthless to students who aren't there.

But it's not quite that simple. A number of voices made it through the fog of my outrage to educate me about the realities of Cincinnati's first-day fiasco.

School superintendent Alton Frailey, for instance, said Tuesday that the school system deserves at least some of the blame: "We believe there are a variety of factors that have contributed to this problem. Among them may be district practices."

Such as the change of the previously established first day of school without gaining widespread parental support.

For years, school started the last Monday in August. This year, most Cincinnati public schools started the Thursday before that - 11 days before Labor Day. (Walnut Hills started two days before that.)

Some parents who still haven't gotten over the fact that schools open before Labor Day gained new ammunition to grouse about lost family time.

"There's a larger debate going on all around the country about pre-Labor Day starts. That's the bigger picture," says Jennifer Raabe, mother of a Kilgour Elementary student in Mount Lookout.

School leaders didn't poll parents about the change. A "calendar committee," including a few parents, changed the date, in part, to tack more instruction time before proficiency tests.

Anything to help city schools out of "academic emergency."

The change also creates full weeks for winter and spring breaks as a possible remedy to a recurring absentee problem. But the fix worsened the absentee problem.

"Believe me, we appreciate the irony," said Janet Walsh, a district spokeswoman.

Add to that the kindergarten factor.

Many kindergartners weren't scheduled to be at school the first day. Kindergarten classes phased in a few kids at a time. One principal said her first day of full kindergarten classes is today.

Considering that, absenteeism really was 19 percent, estimates Walsh.

There were other system screw-ups: buses failing to pick up kids, miscommunications, slow-moving paperwork, lapses in outreach.

Parents and schools unwittingly collaborated to produce the embarrassing absenteeism.

They should work more closely together to fix it.

E-mail damos@enquirer.com or phone 768-8395