Woodland Joint Unified School District announce four schools with most improved attendance

Carlos Guerrero

Mar 2

Woodland Joint Unified School District announced the first four winners of their student attendance campaign earlier this week.

According to a district press release, "Every Day Counts" is a student attendance campaign launched on Jan. 11 to improve student attendance throughout the district. The district will recognize the top four schools with the most improved attendance each month.

The winning schools will receive an "Every Day Counts" banner to hang at their school to celebrate their success.

For February, the top four schools were Prairie Elementary School, Pioneer High School, Douglass Middle School and Science and Technology (Sci-Tech) Academy.

"Our entire office staff cheered," stated Prairie Elementary School Principal Kelly Schevenin. "We are so proud of our students and families. When students attend school regularly, they achieve at higher levels."

Other principals also expressed that winning the banner is a source of pride for their schools.

"I'm very proud of the students," stated Pioneer High School Principal Sandra Reese. "It's not easy to get up and get yourself to school on days when you're tired or anxious, but they are doing it. There are a lot of people at Pioneer working hard to help students who are struggling, and I am grateful for every single one."

Pioneer High School (left to right): Principal Sandra Reese, Yuliza Chavez, Ella Gamboa, and Superintendent Elodia Ortega-Lampkin. (WJUSD/Courtesy)

"I was so happy to hear that we had won the banner for most improved attendance," said Sci-Tech Academy Principal Maria Martinez. "I am so proud of our students, parents and teachers because it takes a team working together."

"It means a lot to me that our students and families are making an effort to come to school more," said Douglass Middle School Principal Cristina Morel. "Our attendance has increased little by little over the last month so it brought a big smile to my face to learn that small improvements added up."

While Every Day Counts is a districtwide campaign, each school used an individual strategy for improving attendance at their school, including grade-level competitions, daily data reports, prizes, and communication with families.

"Each week, the class at each grade level with the highest attendance earned a class certificate and a sweet treat and winners were announced in our school announcements," Schevenin said. "All students in classes that had a 95% attendance rate or higher for the week earned a special golden ticket to be used in our student store. Teachers all received an email at the end of each week with their weekly attendance percentage along with congratulations or words of encouragement with ideas for increasing attendance. Additionally, we included messages about attendance in our weekly newsletters and told students about the district campaign and banner in our morning announcements. Teachers also sent communication to their families and made personal calls when students were absent."

"It has been a collective effort," Martinez said. "We had weekly Sunday messages that include the importance of attendance. Teachers helped by reaching out to parents when a student was absent and celebrated with them when they returned to school. Making that one-on-one connection with students has been so important. When students feel that you missed them when they were absent, they feel that you do care when they are absent. This campaign has encouraged all of us to highlight the importance of attendance as a big factor in students' success."

Sci-Tech Academy (left to right): Superintendent Elodia Ortega-Lampkin, Enzo Reed, Shane Olton, Isabelle Hatcher, and Principal Maria Martinez(WJUSD/Courtesy)

Pioneer High School also provided one-on-one support to students with attendance challenges.

"Improving attendance at the high school level takes all folks working together and PHS does a great job of doing just that," Reese said. "We try to stay on top of students who may be struggling with attendance and try to address whatever it is that may be keeping them from coming. In short, we try to help, and we have wonderful people who can help, and they do!"

For Douglass Middle School, regular data reports were a factor in winning the banner.

"Each week, I include our year-to-date attendance, the attendance rate for the week, how much we have improved from the previous week, and where we were pre-pandemic in our Sunday message," Morel said. "I also include a different statistic or message about why attendance matters for students long-term. Every family wants the very best for their student and seeing how missing school matters makes a difference. Teachers and staff have also been more intentional about talking with students about the importance of coming to school each day and reaching out to students themselves via email when their students are missing school."

Douglass Middle School students, staff, and administrators.(WJUSD/Courtesy)

Research shows that missing just two days a month of school can impact a student's academic success. However, coming to school each day improves academics, boosts self-esteem, and increases opportunities for college and a career.

"The recurring theme among all of our schools is that making a change is a team effort," said Dr. Felicia Rodoni-Wilson, WJUSD director of student support services. "With the support of our school sites, attendance liaisons, and district-level folks, the reminder that 'Every Day Counts' is making an impact at our schools, which in turn has made an impact on our students."

Superintendent Elodia Ortega-Lampkin congratulated each school for their success on Tuesday.

"These awards represent what we can accomplish when we all work together," Ortega-Lampkin said. "Our students, staff, administrators, and families all played an important role in boosting our student attendance. I'm proud to see the positive results of everyone's commitment and determination. I encourage everyone to keep up the great work and continue coming to school, and we'll announce the top four schools again next month."

According to Attendance Works, a nonprofit organization focused on addressing student attendance, missing just two days a month of school can affect a student's academic performance.

But when students improve their attendance, they improve their academics, boost self-esteem, and increase their opportunities for their success, such as graduating, going to college, or starting a career.

Although the district began this campaign in January, Damin Renteria, a sophomore at Woodland High School, surpassed 10 years of perfect attendance in early February. He had had perfect attendance since his first day of kindergarten, according to a WJUSD press release.

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