Superintendent outlines "Strong Foundation: Accelerating Impact," highlights drop in chronic absenteeism

Superintendent Dr. Iris Gomero told trustees the district will build on last year's work under a new theme, "Strong Foundation: Accelerating Impact," focusing on scaling practices that improved outcomes and working to increase instructional rigor and student discourse. She said the leadership team recently held a retreat to review attendance, discipline and climate data and is prioritizing practices to replicate across schools.

"We had a decrease of 8 percentage points of chronic absenteeism, which means that over 200 more students are attending school on a regular basis," Dr. Gomero said, and the district will launch a first-60-days attendance challenge for students and staff. She also announced convocation activities starting Aug. 24 and professional-learning sessions with national consultant Dr. Karin Hess to support cognitive rigor and teacher practice.