Learning Communities for School Success Program Grant

• Every Day Matters: MPUSD’s Continued Commitment to Attendance

• Marina Community: Attendance Video Series: This video series shines a spotlight on the critical role school attendance plays in shaping students’ futures, particularly in Marina, where chronic absenteeism rates are higher than neighboring communities.

  
  
  

2024 - 2025 Progress Update

During the 2024 - 2025 school year, MPUSD successfully launched the Promoting Attendance through Collaboration and Compassionate Systems (PACCS) Project. The PACCS Project is a districtwide MPUSD initiative designed to reduce chronic absenteeism by strengthening collaboration, compassion, and systemic understanding across our 16 schools. 

During the 2024 - 2025 school year, early results show meaningful progress: chronic absenteeism decreased from 15.7% to an estimated 13%, and Average Daily Attendance (ADA) improved by 0.37%. These gains reflect MPUSD’s continued commitment to uncovering and addressing the root causes of absenteeism through proactive, student-centered strategies which are outlined below. 

Collaboration and Professional Development

MPUSD launched a Community of Practice (CoP) to bring together attendance professionals to share best practices and data-driven strategies. Hiring delays of the grant funded position slowed the initial rollout, but meetings helped build shared understanding and effective approaches to family outreach. Our focus also included investing in training of the Compassionate Systems Framework, which helps people shift how they relate to themselves, others, and the world, fostering greater collective action, kindness, and resilience. Rooted in an understanding of living systems, it encourages mindful reflection and compassionate responses to complex, interconnected challenges. Below are updates in our key focus areas. 

Expanded Staffing Capacity

MPUSD expanded its attendance team with three new Attendance Intervention Specialist (AIS) positions, two of which are now filled. Early outcomes are promising: during Attendance Awareness Month, the two schools with new AIS support reduced chronic absenteeism by 10% compared to last year, while two others saw 5–6% improvements. These results highlight the impact of dedicated, relationship-based outreach on student engagement and attendance.

Partnership with EveryDay Labs

Through a strengthened partnership with EveryDay Labs, MPUSD used real-time attendance data to identify at-risk students and deliver personalized communications encouraging re-engagement. Over the most recent campaign, 6,842 students received more than 2,600 letters and 11,000 text messages, leading to 341 family responses demonstrating strong connection and responsiveness from our school communities.

Attendance Barrier Assessment

Working with EveryDay Labs, MPUSD explored an attendance barrier assessment tool to guide conversations with families. Feedback from staff revealed that simpler, relationship-based approaches, such as caring phone calls to families after multiple absences—were more effective for early outreach. This shift has informed our ongoing focus on building staff capacity for compassionate, family-centered communication.

Health Services Expansion

To address health-related attendance barriers, MPUSD is preparing to launch Hazel Health, providing students with on-demand telehealth access at school and at home. The district took additional time to coordinate with health services staff to ensure smooth implementation. As of October, planning is back on track, positioning MPUSD to expand wellness supports that help students stay healthy and in school.

Communications and Engagement Efforts

Throughout the 2024 - 2025 school year, MPUSD's Communications department played a role in advancing the district's attendance and engagement goals through targeted storytelling, outreach, and visibility efforts. A key focus was the Marina Learning community, where communications highlighted the district's investments in new programs and community partnerships to foster student success and family engagement. Through a mix of video storytelling, social media spotlights, school-based features, and movie theatre advertising, MPUSD celebrated collective progress and pride across Marina schools and districtwide.

Districtwide, communications supported attendance awareness through creative contests, incentive campaigns, and engaging messaging the reinforced the importance of daily attendance. Schools participated through friendly competitions, while the Communications team produced collateral matierals, coordinated video campaigns, and launched regular social media content aligned with the district's core message. Additionally, the department provided comprehensive communications support across all sties, including message development, event promotion, flyers, newsletters, and content creation. These efforts ensured consistent, high quality storytelling and strengthened the connection between schools, families, and the broader community.

Looking ahead to the 2025 - 2026 school year, MPUSD has expanded these efforts through the fall launch of the #ShowUpMPUSD campaign, building on the success of PACCS and districtwide attendance initiatives. The campaign features site-based recognition, family engagement opportunities, and multimedia outreach that reinvorces the district's commitment to student success through consistent attendance and community collaboration.