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Attendance workshop counteracts complacency, common misconceptions

2015 January 22
by HISD Communications

A refresher course being offered by the Office of Student Support Services is helping HISD principals and clerks to see a familiar topic with new eyes—which may well lead to improved student attendance rates.

Dozens of HISD administrators and staff members crowded into a conference room at the district’s headquarters on Jan. 13, for the second in a series of workshops called “Attendance Matters” led by Student Support Services Director Mark White.

“Part one is about managing data so that it’s information you can trust,” explained White. “Part two is about what to do when the data shows a student has an attendance problem. Most campuses have an attendance component in their School Improvement Plan, so this helps with that, too.”

The course provides a basic overview of attendance protocols, tips on how to handle certain situations, and details on why attendance rates are so critical to funding. The Jan. 13 workshop also featured presentations by representatives from legal and law enforcement agencies, such as Keisha Bundage, a program specialist with Children’s Protective Services, and Catherine Klier-Summers, who serves as the administrative manager of the municipal courts for the City of Houston, and president of the Juvenile Case Managers Association of Texas.

“We focus on prevention and intervention,” said Bundage, “but it’s really about collaboration, so we’re not duplicating any services.”

Siomara Saenz-Phillips, who serves as the principal of Jefferson Elementary School and the lead principal of Area 1, said every campus leader could benefit from attending one of these workshops.

“Sometimes, being experienced principals, we can get complacent about what we think we know and don’t know, so it’s good to revisit this topic,” she said. “Nobody wants to leave their campus, but this is well worth the time.”

“We can have the best teachers in the classrooms and the best programs in the world,” added Director of Dropout Prevention Bea Marquez, “but if the students are not in those seats, they’re not learning.”

The final workshop in the original series is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 26, but additional dates are being added in February (search for course code SS0029 in eTRAIN). For details, please see this related Academic Services memo.

Learn more about the district’s attendance awareness campaign here.

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