Novato school district curtails chronic absenteeism

The rate of Novato Unified School District elementary and middle school students who were chronically absent during the 2023-24 school year dropped by almost 11 percentage points compared with the prior year, according to new report.

The district’s K-8 chronic absenteeism rate was 7.7%, down from the 18.5% rate in the 2022-2023 school year, administrators said.

The decline led to a total enrollment increase from 93.83% in 2022-23 to 95.89% in 2023-24. That bump in enrollment represents a savings of about $1 million to the district — one of only a few in Marin that receives per-student subsidies from the state based on average daily attendance, Marin officials said.

“Novato has been working very hard this year to address their high rates of absenteeism,” said Laura Trahan, assistant superintendent in the Marin County Office of Education. “They have approached it rigorously, with consistent attention from staff.”

The decrease in chronic absenteeism has meant the district “is now just about 1% higher than pre-pandemic rates,” said Leslie Benjamin, a district spokesperson.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of school days for any reason, including excused and unexcused absences, over an academic year. This can equate to approximately 18 days in a typical 180-day school year, Trahan said.

Trahan noted that the rate escalated during the pandemic in most of Marin as students were required to stay home for a period of time. But for Novato schools, which rely on their average daily attendance figures to receive state subsidies, the issue was particularly acute, she added.

“Novato’s persistent approach is timely,” she said. “It will only assist them, as every day a student is not in school for an ADA district is not good.”

The campaign to reverse the chronic absenteeism trend started at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year. Each Novato elementary and middle school site formed a team of three or four staff members to focus on the issue.

The teams worked on several fronts to convince students to return to class, Benjamin said. One was a direct and persistent communication effort with families of students who were chronically absent.

The other approach was to arrange fun events, such as principal’s pie-in-the-face days, and activities, such as dance jams, to increase students’ motivation to return. Some schools came up with innovative incentives, such as stuffed animal parades.

“Each week, we chose a class from primary and upper grades with the best attendance,” said Mira Patel, principal of Lu Sutton Elementary School.

“We would parade one of our cheetahs, Luke or Lupita, to their classroom for a week,” Patel said, referring to large stuffed animals. “The kids loved it, and were motivated to earn it.”

At Rancho Elementary School, specific interventions were scheduled, with students who were chronically absent and with a third group of the most extreme student absenteeism cases, principal Catherine Nam said.

For the whole school, events such as a drumming assembly, welcome back doughnuts and hot chocolate days, egg hunts and the principal dressed like a baby riding a tricycle were scheduled. The second group was offered certificates to Habit Burger and Kona Ice, a movie, In and Out Burger certificates and “nudge” letters and home visits and calls to parents, Nam said.

The third group of extreme chronic absenteeism was required to attend school attendance review board meetings and hearings at the district and county level, Nam said.

All the schools’ staff teams met once a week and tracked attendance and absences closely. Their goal was for chronic absenteeism to come down by 9%, Benjamin said.

“All student groups saw a reduction in absenteeism, with notable decreases among Hispanic, Filipino and multiracial students,” Benjamin said.

The campaign, borrowed from the San Diego County Office of Education, was called d.CAN, or Decreasing Chronic Absenteeism Network, she said.

“This achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our students, staff and community,” said Tracy Smith, the district’s superintendent. “The d.CAN initiative has made a tangible difference in our students’ lives, ensuring they are present and prepared to learn each day.”

Trahan said her office has been working with several Marin school districts on the chronic absenteeism issue over the past year. The focus has been “looking at their policies, but more specifically, who is not coming to school and why,” Trahan said.

She added that absences are broken down into broad categories: excused and unexcused.

“Because of the increase in absences and the anticipated decrease across 2023-24, many districts are looking more intently at who are those children in the ‘unexcused’ category,” Trahan said.