ATTENDANCE CAMPAIGN sees apparent success
For Central Union High School District (CUHSD), having their students attend class as often as possible is a number one priority — a priority they’ve successfully acted upon.
The school district launched a campaign in recent years to promote better attendance and have seen a direct improvement because of it.
Three years ago, the district’s Board of Trustees began the multipronged campaign, which aims to have students in the classroom more often, explained CUHSD Assistant Superintendent Arnold Preciado.
“The only way the district can provide quality education for the students is to have students in the classroom, so the campaign was made with that in mind,” said Preciado.
Student performance, graduation rates and school climate can all be affected by lack of attendance. These were three of the main reasons why the district began the campaign.
The CUHSD campaign also hopes to reduce chronic absence, meaning any student missing 10 percent or more of the school year for any reason — including excused and unexcused absences.
The school district has promoted the campaign through various local media, including billboards and radio advertisements.
An advertisement has been placed at the electronic billboard at the Imperial Valley Mall, as well as billboard advertisements amongst other schools in El Centro and Seeley.
Advertisements on KXO Radio ran prior to the school year beginning and during morning spots. There have also been new and additional banners recently put up at the three CUHSD high schools promoting the slogans “Every Day Counts” and “On Time, Every Day”.
In August, commercials for the attendance campaign played before every showing at Cinemark Theaters at the mall. The movie theater has shown these commercials for the last three years.
As part of the campaign, Preciado, along with other CUHSD staff members, created the District Attendance Improvement Team (DAIT). The team’s goal is to increase direct contact with parents and serve as a reminder for the importance of their child’s attendance.
Along with the assistant superintendent, the team consists of Southwest High School Vice Principal Sergio Rubio, Central Union High School Vice Principal Adrienne Rodriguez, Desert Oasis High School and Phoenix Rising Principal Fernando O’ Campo and five other CUHSD employees.
This year, DAIT promoted the district’s attendance campaign at the high schools’ freshmen orientation and developed a parent notification letter that was sent to all parents at the beginning of the school year. The letter, which is set to also be issued at the start of the next school year, discussed the importance of having students on time every day.
“The DAIT team has been very instrumental in looking at data and addressing concerns regarding parents and keeping their students going to school,” said Preciado on the team, which also helps communicate the importance of attendance to the entire school staff.
Over the last two years of the campaign, the district has noticed a .88 percent increase in the attendance rate district wide, meaning students are showing up to school more often.
In the 2016 to 2017 school season, CUHSD recorded an attendance rate of 95.38 percent, a significant accomplishment as the statewide high school attendance average is 94.05 percent.
In terms of enrollment, the school district has seen a 1.55 percent increase in total enrollment since the 2011 to 2012 school year. Enrollment at Desert Oasis High has dropped by 25.81 percent since 2011, while enrollment at Central Union High has grown by 3.25 since 2011 and at Southwest High by 0.34 since 2011.
“More students are showing up more often, more than before. I think it’s a marvelous effort towards making sure people are informed and the students know how important it is to come to school every day. We want to prepare all of our students for college -and-career readiness,” expressed Preciado on success of the district’s attendance campaign.