LAUSD tackling chronic absenteeism with face-to-face outreach

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles Unified School District officials kicked off a series of back-to-school events ahead of the new school year by focusing on chronic absenteeism and encouraging students to return to the classroom.

As part of the district’s “I Attend” program, Superintendent Andres Chait, along with teachers, principals and other district officials, boarded a school bus from Pacoima Middle School and visited local families at their homes.

The effort is designed to address chronic absenteeism through face-to-face outreach with students and their families before classes begin next week.

“Of course, we’re always there at our schools, we provide resources at our schools but there’s just something different about sitting down in someone’s home and having a conversation about how we can help a family to improve a student's attendance,” Chait said.

Chait said the visits also serve as outreach to communities facing additional challenges.

“These communities, as we know, have been disproportionally impacted by some of the immigration enforcement activity that’s happened over the last couple of years in Los Angeles,” he said.

During one of the stops, district officials met two kindergarten students and helped ensure they had school supplies before the start of the academic year.

Their mother, Alejandra Martinez, emphasized the importance of regular attendance.

“So they can learn, so they don’t get behind. So they don’t have to play catch up,” Martinez said.

The group later visited Aayden Vasquez, a sixth-grade student preparing for a new school year.

“The new school is going to be pretty nice. I want to try to get into music to do violin but I like my summer better,” Vasquez said.

His mother, Mary Rodriguez, said attendance has never been a concern for her family despite receiving reminders from the district.

“I know we do get the phone calls just to give us a reminder, keep them in school so we have all those reminders, but I know it gets pushed every so often but it’s never something a concern of mine,” Rodriguez said.

The district is preparing for students to return to class Aug. 12.