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Students benefit from emphasis on attendance
A countywide effort to boost school attendance is paying off, and students are
reaping the rewards.
Hollister School District, San Benito High School District, San Benito County Office of Education, and even the county Probation Department and District Attorney’s office are working together to accomplish the first job in education – getting kids to school consistently and on time.
Photo above: San Benito High School Superintendent Dr. Jean Burns-Slater pitches the attendance program — Every Day/Cada Día.
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At San Benito High, the result is average daily attendance hovering around 95 percent, a figure rarely attained by schools. “We’re very fortunate here at the high school because we already have very high attendance,” said Krystal Lomanto, Vice Principal for Student Support Services.
Public schools receive funding from the state based upon average daily attendance, but the rationale behind the countywide attendance campaign is not connected to finances.
“Honestly, it’s not for the money,” Lomanto said. “It’s for student success. All the studies show that if students are in school, they’ll be successful. If they were missing that much work, they’d be fired. We aren’t helping them to be successful if we don’t get them to class.”
Chronically truant students are tracked, and the district attorney’s office will notify parents that action may be taken if attendance does not improve.
If that does not have a positive effect, a closed-door mediation hearing is scheduled and parents, the student, and authorities collaborate for a successful outcome. If things still do not improve, ultimately parents can be prosecuted. That’s only happened a few times. The focus of the attendance campaign is a more positive approach.
“We’ve done it in stages,” Lomanto said. “At the beginning of the year, staff at all Hollister schools wore ‘Every Day Counts’ buttons.”
Banners flew in downtown Hollister and San Juan Bautista. Posters went up throughout local communities. Teachers were encouraged to be role models, and to talk about how important it is to be in school every day. Even local youth sports coaches were encouraged to send messages to their players about school attendance.
The goal is to provide nearly constant reminders to students. Most recently, messages began appearing during trailers at local movie theaters.
There’s no escaping the message: school is the place to be.
In March, Lomanto, Connie Childers of Hollister School District, Mike Sanchez of San Andreas School and County Superintendent Tim Foley coordinated an attendance rally. Local businesses donated hundreds of coupons for students, the high school band played, cheerleaders were on hand to add excitement, and buckets of popcorn were served.
Not knowing in advance how many kids would show up made for some anxiety, Lomanto said, but the event proved so successful that another rally is planned for next year.
The attendance message is finding a wider audience than the student community, too.
“Organizations and businesses are taking ownership,” Lomanto said. “At Target, they’ll ask a kid, ‘aren’t you supposed to be in school? Who do I need to call to get you to class?’”
Plans for next year may include a cable television commercial series as well as a reprise of last year’s efforts.
There’s no escaping the message that San Benito County kids belong in school, and that message is getting through.
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