PUSD Campaign Focuses on High School Dropout Prevention

Pasadena Unified School District students who haven't been to class yet for the 2013-14 school year will get a visit from city and district volunteers tomorrow in an effort to discourage dropping out.

The student-recovery effort is part of the district's "I'm In!" campaign to encourage school attendance, targeting students who have been "chronically absent" since August or have not been to class at all.

"Our schools are working at an accelerated pace and a single day of missed instruction can adversely affect the student's academic progress," PUSD superintendent Jon R. Gundry said. "Immediate action is necessary because research tells us that missing or skipping school occasionally in the early grades can easily become a habit that puts students on track to drop out of school."

The attendance effort also has a financial impetus, since districts are funded by the state based on Average Daily Attendance. According to PUSD, the district can lose $888,000 from a 1 percent drop in annual attendance.

Next month, PUSD will begin using an Attention to Attendance program that will automatically generate letters to parents of students who are truant three times, more than 30 minutes late to school or have excessive excused and unexcused absences. The district will also call the homes of students who are not in school to notify parents of the student's absence.