Addressing Chronic Absenteeism: Strategies for Student Engagement and Improved Attendance in Schools

Are we ready to take on the issue that's pulling students out of the classrooms and hindering their academic growth? Because it's high time we expose the silent epidemic of chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10% or more of the school year, that's causing a ripple effect in our education system. This is not just a conversation about students skipping school - it's about understanding the complex factors behind it, including the child's home environment, and putting strategies in place to combat it effectively. We're putting the spotlight on the crucial role of parent motivation, the importance of individual attendance data, and the need for early intervention. Let's break down what chronic absenteeism really means and discuss how we can tackle it head-on.

But wait, there's more. We're taking the discussion a step further to question the efficacy of incentives and mentorship in resolving attendance issues. You have to wonder - are incentives leading kids to come to school for the rewards rather than the learning? We're peeling back the layers on this issue to emphasize the need for a climate where students are safe and deeply engaged in their learning, making that the priority over incentives. We'll also be discussing how everyone, from teachers to janitors, can play a part as a success mentor. So, join us as we dig deeper, engage with families, understand the root causes of attendance issues, and provide the support that keeps our students in school where they belong.

Chapters

• 0:02 Addressing Chronic Absenteeism in Schools
• 16:20 Addressing Chronic Absenteeism in Schools
• 27:11 Attendance and Incentives in School

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Attendance and chronic absenteeism. Does this keep you up at night? Do you walk into your school every day and you're asking yourself how do I attack this, reverse this? How do I get kids in the school?

Speaker 2: 0:21

Let's talk about that today. When they see me, they know that every day, when I'm breathing, it's for us to go farther. Every time I speak, I want the truth to come out. Every time I speak, I want to shiver. I don't want them to be like. They know what I'm going to say because it's polite. They know what I'm going to say and even if I get in trouble, that ain't what we're supposed to do. I'm not saying I'm going to rule the world or I'm going to change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world, and that's our job is to spark somebody else watching us. We might not be the ones, but let's not be selfish because we're not going to change the world. Let's not talk about how we should change it. I don't know how to change it, but I know. If I keep talking about how dirty it is out here, somebody going to clean it up. And now he's been promoted his job as principal.

Speaker 1: 1:16

I was going to have. You want this, Ujjain Joku sneak, principal. And we're going to talk about something that is hard to talk about because I feel there's no exact science to this, but, however, there are strategies that can be put in place to address this particular thing, and the thing I'm talking about here is attendance school attendance to be exact. As you all know, this is my. I'm at my third school as a principal and I've worked at several schools where attendance was like the core conversation.

Speaker 1: 1:58

It was the, the, the one thing that was being tracked, probably above all things, and I'll tell you why. If kids are not in school, how do you teach them? If kids are not in school on a daily basis, how do you improve schools? You know performance, it's virtually impossible. So you have to have kids in school.

Speaker 1: 2:26

So, but then we talk about attendance. We also have to talk about the other side of the coin, which is, which is the chronic absenteeism. Those kids who are so, who've been out of school for so many days that now it's on the stages of being chronic. And I'll tell you this if your school is not rethinking or doesn't have a strategy and plan that's working, you're going to be struggling for years to come. So in this episode of the Sneaker Principal Podcast, I wanted to share with you my strategies. It's not an exact science, but I also feel there are scientific, mathematical things that can be done to really move the way we see attendance, at least for individual schools. So first of all, let's let's start off by defining what is chronic absenteeism. Someone look at my notes, so I'm not being rude, not looking at you on the camera for those of you watching this on video but chronic absenteeism is when students miss 10% or more of the school year. It's a silent epidemic affecting schools nationwide, impeding academic and social development, whether it's due to illness, family issues or lack of engagement. We need to address this issue head on. I love the way that was that was. That's well framed, because it is. It is an epidemic, you know, especially when it's not addressed and allowed to just happen and, furthermore, according to recent data, millions of students fall into the category of being chronic absentee. This is a call to action for us all in education. So, if you watch this right now, this is a call to action because, again, our schools are talking about attendance. A lot of schools are doing a lot of things. Our question is are you being effective in what you're doing and how you're doing well, how you doing it?

Speaker 1: 4:39

So, first off, the role of attendance data. So data, data, data, data. A lot of schools don't truly understand their own attendance data, and I'm not saying that I am an expert at it, but, however, we are just looking at numbers, percentages, and we're looking at heat maps and we're like what classes, what section, what class has the most attendance issues? And I believe it's a little bit more than that. Heat maps are great. They make you feel like you're being productive. Percentages gives you something to look at.

Speaker 1: 5:24

But for me, the data that I really like to look at is the actual individual student. You know it's like in business. You know if you're trying to sell something, you have a widget, you have a product. You're not just gonna go to the market and start selling to everybody. No, you're gonna target, you're gonna say who is my customer, what are the attendencies, what are they looking for, what are the needs, what are the things that I know that make them the most ideal person for this product? And I say using the same mentality for attendance is very important because we have to think about who.

Speaker 1: 6:05

The individual student who's not attending is the individual first. And looking at their daily records, their tardiness If you weren't there in school, are you getting in school on time? I mean, I'm sorry, I think, into the classes on time. You know understanding the patterns of the individual's absence. When are they absent the most? What's happening in that child's household that's causing it to be absent? You know, and not only that, now with the child, the parent, there's too many schools are thinking about oh, this child is not in school. You know, let's incentivize the child to be in school. But my belief is, if you don't know what the motivating factor is, or the demotivating factor is for the actual parent, the person who's actually in charge of that child, then what are we talking about here? Like I've heard conversations about how do we incentivize elementary school kids come to school Majority, the vast majority of elementary school kids have no control over themselves to get to school Is the parent who makes sure to get to school.

Speaker 1: 7:14

So what's going with the parent? Do they live too far? Are they having I mean, are they having childcare situations? I mean issues? You know, are our students helping with that? You know we have kids who come to school late. Are they dropping off their siblings? You know all these little things we have to understand. Paint a picture to have a clear understanding, because if we're not doing that, the numbers mean nothing. You know the incentives. I know school who spent thousands of dollars for incentives, gift cards and this and that, and they even hire more people. But I'm like, but the numbers are still wanting because you're not addressing the actual issue, which is knowing why Elementary school.

Speaker 1: 8:03

You have to figure out what's going on with the parents, not as a judge and jury, but as a partner. How can we support Middle school? Same thing, you think, because the kid is obviously the bigger body that they're in control of themselves. No, it's the parents, the guardians. High school's way becomes a little bit different. But now, when you're talking to a 17, 18 year old, they may very well have full autonomy. Then you have to figure out how to address their needs as well. What's the reason for them not coming to school? How can we reverse that?

Speaker 1: 8:40

But again, I'm going back to saying this you have to understand the individual, the person, the stakeholder, the main person who has control of it, that child being there. But the other thing too is, as you're collecting data, it has to be accurate. There's nothing worse in the world than not knowing the numbers behind that individual. Because I'll tell you right now, I've had parents who we speak to them and we'll say the child's not coming to school, okay, and it turns into a back and forth the child has to be in school, but I just have that. But rather sitting with a parent and saying let's look at your child's collective data Number of days they've been absent, they're grades, this is how they're performing, this is how they're falling behind and you show the parent these things, all of a sudden parents are like wait a minute, I didn't think it was that bad. But often, if you don't know the numbers and you're not sharing with the parent the actual detail of that child, you're just asking for a back and forth Data.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Data data is the ultimate, ultimate intervention strategy. Once we know where everyone falls, then we can start talking about solutions, and that's the goal talk about solutions. How do we reverse this? It's the child who starts off the year with this and they've already hit the percent. The key now is to minimize that, that number from growing. You know, and the way you do that is you you have to strategize around the data with that, with that family and or in the physical high school kid, with a high school kid. But also again I'm gonna repeat, it's about coming down to the why, what is causing this and what we need to do to reverse it. Um, once we have the data, is it's we have to analyze it. You know, like I said earlier, you have the data. You have to know the data yourself, so you know how to you utilize it in the conversations with, with the families. But now One of the things that I know I've seen this over and over again that is not done right and I hope, I hope I can, I could, I could articulate this Well when you only looking at percentages, you only looking at you know, um, a List of students who are not there, and I look at them at the individual, one of the things you tend to do and this is a major misstep is you, you kind of like Attack the list, you know you, you put boots on the ground, let's go find those kids, bring them to school, let's get them into the building.

Speaker 1: 11:27

And the problem with that is, when you're attacking that list, you're ignoring the bigger list, the rest of the kids A lot of parents allow schools will look at. Oh my god, these are our chronic absentee students. We're attacking them and as that list, as you're, as you're trying to reduce that list, you know is getting bigger because there are other kids who are coming to school every day, who's starting to like fall behind themselves. So you're always attacking the currently absentee or the absence list and you're not addressing those who are here every single day, collect data. Why are the kids who come to school every day? Why are they coming. What excites them about them to your school? What is it about being in school? They excites them because one thing I want to tell you but I'm not believe it that that you must come to school and that's it. What is there at the school to make sure the kid comes?

Speaker 1: 12:26

If the kid is, if the kid is is is if your school is not addressing the social emotional needs it's not, doesn't have an exciting academic program, there are not extracurricular activities, that things that make school fun for them or, even better yet, safe, that your chronic absentee list is going to increase. That your chronic absentee list is going to increase. Is it is going to increase? Okay, so those are watching the video. Something weird happened, but hopefully I will go back and make sure the audio is correct.

Speaker 1: 13:01

So I was saying, when it comes to students being in school, you have to address that. You have to make sure that you create a climate where kids are being engaged every single day, and I was mentioning about safety. There is a huge correlation between school climate and attendance. You can be fine to get kids into a school building, but if your school space is not safe, where kids feel like when I come here Mentally, physically, spiritually I always say spiritually too, because it all connects mental, physical, spiritual and emotional. If those four things are not connected to each other and your school space is a space where kids feel unsafe, guess what a simple text message that that there's gonna be a fight tomorrow and kids are not gonna come to school then that next day, I'm telling you look at your, look at your school data and Look and look at the days that there's been fights or there's been escalated Events that Create a safety issue in your school and look what your attendance was that day.

Speaker 1: 14:15

In 2023, nothing happens in isolation. Because of this thing right here called the cell phone and social media, most incidents have already I don't say be been preplanned, but have already been initiated before they be happening in school. And Because it's happening on on social media and most of your kids already know is something, that something's gonna happen, especially middle schools and high schools. Kids know and People think they. All kids want drama. Most kids are trying to run away from it. So if your school has drama, guess what happens now those days? Where Doesn't this? Is this incident, or whatever the case may be?

Speaker 1: 14:57

You might notice your attendance was low that day from the jump, because, all of a sudden, what you not realize and certain kids are like oh, I have a tummy ache today, mom, I don't want to go to school, I'm not feeling well because they don't want to be in the middle of the mess Is that there's been planned for that day, or things that are escalating, things like bullying, things like just rowdy hallways or classrooms that are out of control. Who wants to be there? So, while you're trying to get kids into your school, is your school a space where the kids want to actually be in? Asks us of that question. Okay, so you have to address the data from from your actual school space. What is happening, doing today, day today, because I'm telling you there's a correlation between your school climate and kids not want to be in school. So if you can fix that, then just what happens? You have more kids who are in school, and those kids who are not in school, you can address them to see what's stopping them from coming. And what's stopping from coming better not be the school itself, but if the school itself is the problem, you will have absentee absence at an attendance issue and a chronically absentee issue as well. So I'll share this quick story my, my, my school right now, ms 224 this week, seven, south Bronx.

Speaker 1: 16:20

When I first got there, the numbers were I mean the attendance the attendance part was Moving in the right direction. The chronically absentee part was out of control, like over 40%. To think about that. Over 40% chronically absentee that's insane. But the one thing that I saw that was like okay, this has to change was climate there. There were a lot of issues happening in the school, a lot of, a lot of Social media drama, a lot of kids that didn't feel safe. And how do I know this? We did a survey. We did a survey of our kids as we were writing our, our comprehensive educational plan for 2023-24, and when we did student survey, it was in there kids were saying that bullying, the fights, the inability to learn the classroom, the kids who were distracting all this stuff was in was impeding their learning.

Speaker 1: 17:19

So why wouldn't we have a chronically absentee issue? This? Most kids don't want to sit at home, let's be honest here. But also, most kids don't want to be in a space where they don't feel safe, you know, or or they're feeling traumatized by all the things that are happening in that space. So that is something to be. It needs to be addressed. As far as reversing or you know, I don't believe in reversing if you're already in a problem, that you have to reverse it. But how do we start for the school year, creating a space where we don't have to eventually reverse chronically absenteeism? Well, we have a space where kids are coming to school every day and if they're not there is because they are very clear reasons that we can address and support them with, and the reason, again, should not be the school itself Now forming an attendance team, attendance team, attendance team.

Speaker 1: 18:15

So every, almost every school that, or any, every school system has attendance issues, has an attendance team, and the attendance team is a. It's a group of of stakeholders in school. So we're talking about administrators, we're talking about teachers, counselors, even parents, you know, who are part of having conversations on how do we support Students with poor attendance, how do we, you know, move kids off the chronically absentee list? Okay, and this is how you collect data and this how you attack the data from this team. But I'll tell you this I've also felt a lot, a lot of schools you have there. They're moving based on compliance, they have your attendance team and they're attacked again, I said earlier, they're attacking the absentee students by not really addressing the school culture and and One of the things that is a school leader that I hold very important to me in that attendance team we have to be very strategic. We have to know why we're there and what is it exactly we're doing. So everything I've said so far Are things that are discussed within my attendance team From the jump, from the first attendance meeting, we knew which kids first of all.

Speaker 1: 19:33

No, no, first of all, we knew what the number was, based on a population, what was the danger zone? Okay, what was the number of kids absent every day to put us in a space where we Would Fall, as a school, into having poor attendance? No, and for us, that number was about 15 kids every day, when, if you're in a school, you're in a school. You're in a school. You're in a school Every day when, if you have 15 kids that are absent, our numbers looks crazy If we have over 15 kids and some of my say, well, now, now, you just using the numbers, you don't really care about kids being there, you just use it. You just use the numbers to make sure you guys look good. Yes and also no. Because we know who those 15 kids are. And because we know who those 15 kids are, we're calling every day.

Speaker 1: 20:32

Okay, at my school, every day that a kid is absent, even if we know why the kid is absent, even if the kid is sick at home, there's a touch point. Every single day my parent coordinator will call If Jamal is absent today and we call mom and mom says he's not feeling well the next day, we'll call again. Oh, he's still not feeling well the next day we'll call again. Oh, he was in the hospital. Like, we want to know on a day-to-day basis how's the child doing. But now it goes beyond just attendance. It's about knowing what's happening with that child, with that family. Oh, he missed the train this morning. Oh, okay, is there another train they can take? Like this is.

Speaker 1: 21:08

This is the conversation, because we are trying to help also parents who are in that space of having children who are currently absent, or better, parents who are clinically absentee parents. You know, from as far as the kids come into school, engaging them every day, come up with a solution. You know, and what we found is the more we talk to parents, the older sudden kids come into school. But sometimes the parents like you know, I'm tired of caring, from you know, from the parent coordinator or from the assistant principal or the guidance counselor. So those 15 are easy to digest. And now, when you have like, in my case I have an attendance team with three counselors, okay, who split up the whole entire school. So guess what? Each of those counselors has their workload of students, that is, their students they're reaching out to. Then we have a family worker who now we can say, hey, this child now is in the danger zone. So now the family workers do home visits but we're managing that list of 15. And but then, at the same time, we have a chart of kids who are on the cusp of potentially being chronically absentee, and we can watch them. We have a threshold when the child gets to a certain percentage. Oh, we got the move. We're there, like in tier two, about the tier three, meaning tier three, chronically absentee. Oh, now we're attacking those kids before they go to that list. Hey, what's going on? Oh, we need to make sure we're reaching out and talking to them and we're sharing the numbers and we're having those conversations and what happens? This becomes very organic. Let me tell you how organic it is.

Speaker 1: 22:37

Every day my attendance team. I have a schoolmate who is amazing. She does the attendance every day. She collects the data, she gets a laptop out and looks who's not here and and then she makes sure that our tenants are correct, because a lot of times if you have a big school, even a small school, kids walk in and we missed them on the attendance sheet and then all of a sudden we think our numbers are much higher. I can tell you this there has not been a day since the beginning of school year where we've missed the kid who's been in the building. We're tracking that list all the way till the end of the day to make sure that our numbers are correct.

Speaker 1: 23:13

But even with our earliest numbers we started to make phone calls and sometimes we have parents who say no, the child is there, the child is here. Do we have to go find that child? Oh, this child walked in late and kind of snuck around the main office. So they, we can catch them in attendance and they went into the classroom. Ok, and we saw that was the issue. Then now we have tracking, we have section sheets, so now every period teachers are able to make marking kids present or absent or late in all their classes and these sections just go from room to room.

Speaker 1: 23:44

So my school, I can pull that folder up and look at it as she's, as she's searching for students to make sure that our attendance is accurate. And again, it makes make sure. It makes us hyper focused, knowing that this is the kids, the 15 or hopefully last kids that we have to track and target every smooth day. So our guidance comes from making targeted calls, our family worker making targeted visits, our parent coordinators calling every day and we are in control. So I'll tell you this my attendance team has.

Speaker 1: 24:13

We have a group chat on our phones where we were asking the other day, what is our number? What is our number? What's our number over 17? Oh, we found two more kids, we're 15. Oh, my God, we're 13. Oh my God, we're eight today and in there we're dropping emojis and and and Jeff's and we're celebrating because also we understand how important this number, these numbers, are. It's not just for compliance and we know kids are in school and they're learning and then guess what happens? Now we can be also tracking improvements. Oh, my God, this kid came off the crime Crayops and teeth list. You know, and we're controlling that. We have.

Speaker 1: 24:55

We have a spreadsheet that we share every meeting we meet every Tuesday, and that spreadsheet there's. There's a red section and yellow section. Yellow section is the section that we want kids off that list so they're not trending towards being frankly absentee. And the red section is small. It's shrinking every time we meet. Sometimes it bumps up where you want to two kids and because we're attacking those kids and then we find out those kid was sick or something happened.

Speaker 1: 25:23

But again, we're tracking everything and we're taking it personal and that's one thing I love. My tennis team takes attendance personal. We celebrate and then I'm telling right now their days were, were like oh, today was 20 kids that were absent and we are bummed out Like literally I have to go to group chat and said, guys, you know what, I still appreciate everybody and what we're doing here. Tomorrow we have to hit it hard Because I can actually see people in their faces, see people texting, or the group chat is quiet and people feel like, really, like man, today was a bad day and for me that tells me that it was a good day because we are pushing, we're taking this personally. So, um, and that's the thing about the, the attendance team. Okay, your attendance team, you should be discussing specific cases, the particular students, families. You should be brainstorming interventions. You should be ensuring that everybody knows their role, everybody knows what their role is in supporting these families, and come up with getting answers so we can, so we know how to best support them. Okay, this is collaborative problem solving at its best. Okay, if your attendance team is the principal or the AP or whoever, just talk to everybody and it's not glad, we're not, and you guys are not collaborating and people have information and sharing and strategizing, that you don't have an attendance team, you just have a meeting, you just have a meeting, you know, and you just have a meeting. So, and again, that's not going to move anything. Um, so now strategies, strategies for improvements. So I'm, I'm, I'm that person and I'm sure you've seen this, you've heard this so far from this episode.

Speaker 1: 27:11

Um, I was once asked to buy incentives. What are your incentives? I do so much. The school is the incentive, and they looked at me like wait a minute, but you know what I mean gift cards, t-shirts, and I'm like the problem with that is, once you incentivize school in that capacity, certain kids will only come because you're giving them stuff and it's not about the learning. And I do believe in celebrating attendance, or I believe in that. But that's old school, perfect attendance, and oh, that's wonderful. But again, like I said earlier, if you're not creating an environment where the kid actually wants to be there, then what are you doing? If you don't, having created a school environment where the kids feel safe there, then what are you doing? If you haven't created a school environment where, in the classrooms, kids are engaged and they feel like they're learning, they're growing, what are you doing? To me, that's the incentive, that is the incentive. And, yes, the school store and some schools do like attendance box and all that kind of stuff, attendance currency, that is cool. But I think once you have created the ultimate climate for learning in your school, then that other stuff becomes like the icing on the cake. It shouldn't be the cake though. It's the garnish, it's the stuff that makes things look good, and that's my thing with when it comes to incentives.

Speaker 1: 28:52

Now, mentorship, or success mentors very important, but I'll tell you this a success mentor is everyone in the process of supporting that child or that family in getting to school there. That's a success mentorship and it shouldn't just be one person. Everybody's a mentor in some capacity as the principal. When I see the kid come into school or I see the parent, I'm giving them a high five and I'm like and I tell parents yo, we're family, give them a hug, making them feel good, knowing that here at this school my child is seen, my child is appreciated. That's my role as a success mentor. My team members who go through the data and they look into the data and they're and they're supportive of the team, understanding what the trends are, those are success mentors. But they're giving us tools to now apply to the child or, specifically, in my case, the individual families, the guidance team who have taken ownership because this child is one of the kids I support as a guidance counselor and them reaching out and knowing and actually truly knowing and being partners with parents. That's another success mentor. So for me, I see the whole entire team as success mentors, because we're empowering families and children to be successful in getting themselves to school and learning and growing.

Speaker 1: 30:13

And some people have huge teams. My thing is, I like my teams more intimate because, again, this is like you know, guys know I was in the Marine Corps. So this is like a fire team Everybody has their role. We have the weapons specialists, we have the communications, we have the medic, we have all these people. But then we all also know that, if needed, we can, all you know, intersect and support each other in doing this work. Let me see here what am I? I'm just going through my notes right now. See, there's anything that I'm missing here.

Speaker 1: 30:50

And, of course, engaging families is key. Many times, chronic absenteeism is symptoms of a larger issue. Like I said earlier, it's just figuring out what the issue is Like, what's stopping this from happening. And often, if you know, then you can provide support. So you can, you know, see, work with the families to figure out, like, how do we make sure we can support you?

Speaker 1: 31:10

I've had situations where where, literally you know, families might be in the shelter and the shelter they're in is on the other side of the city and that's where they're living right now. And then it's like, okay, now how do we support that? Family Based not coming to school is not an option. So I have kids who might show up to school at 10 o'clock and it's like, because they're coming from very far or the parents, the parents can get into school. I'm not beating the parent up for that. I'm like, okay, now how do we make sure when the child gets here, you know the work that was missing. We can get that for them. We can get them to tutoring or whatever needs to happen, but they're in school, okay. And these are the things like leading with compassion, supporting families with compassion. It's also very important.

Speaker 1: 31:55

Some schools will just literally beat a parent or families over the head. You're not here, what are you doing? You're never in school. When I hear that, I'm sorry, I'm calling into my office. We're going to have a conversation. But at the end of the day, you know, we don't always know until we know what's really happening. And that's how I try to figure out what's happening.

Speaker 1: 32:13

And when the child shows up, I don't give. The child has is constantly disruptive. I celebrate the child coming, I give them the high five, I give them the pound. Like you know, I'm good to see you today. I'm a cracker joke, you know something to make them smile. But again, I know that a lot of times children are disruptive in school because there's something about the environment, there's something that's happening that makes them feel unsafe. So if kids feel safe, they'll come to school. If parents are supporting and they're doing that alone, they'll work with the school to make sure they get their child to school, and that is the mission here. So, so, yeah, so these are the things that I think about when it comes to attendance.

Speaker 1: 33:00

And I'll tell you this if your attendance team is not popping, is not doing the staying, let's start with baby steps. Start collecting and analyzing the data from the lens of the individual child and their family. What is the need? What is preventing attendance from being a priority? Or what's causing the dentist to drop? And just not being in school is not the answer. What is it exactly is causing this?

Speaker 1: 33:31

And make sure you have the right person focusing on that piece and split it up. Don't have one person to do. You have a list of 20, 30, 21 persons making those phone calls. Split it up, make sure everybody's playing their role, and if everybody's playing their role, this is what happens. Then you're able to really attack the issue.

Speaker 1: 33:51

But if everybody's not playing their role, I'm telling you right now, it becomes daunting, and you want this to be daunting. You don't want remember your attendance team. People also have other jobs they have to do to keep the school running. So if you're not splitting the rule the right way, you're going to struggle and they're gonna struggle. Then attendance means it becomes that space that they don't wanna be at. I'll tell you right now there's a lot of people who are part of the attendance teams that do not like going to attendance team meetings. It should be a place where everybody walks in, they're excited to come in and share new information, because that information is going to reverse the attendance issue at your school or keep your attendance amazing. Even when you have great attendance, your attendance team is your preventative measure to make sure it doesn't go in the wrong direction.

Speaker 1: 34:44

So, yeah, again, I've said in another episode, if you ever, if you listen to this episode and you're like man, that was too much or man, I have more questions, feel free, drop me a message in the messenger, whatever platform, whether you're YouTube or LinkedIn, wherever you see this, drop me a message, let me know, let's talk, let me support you, let me answer your questions because, again, these things that I talk about in this space, it's not just for me to just put out there to the world and talk about. It's really about supporting people from my experiences supporting leaders, from my experience, so you don't have to repeat the same mistakes that I've made or that a lot of leaders make. And again, this is not a one size fits all, this is not the only solution, but this is what's worked for me. Right now, as a school, we are at 90% attendance. Not happy about that. My goal is 97 and that might take some time to get to, but the thing is we are seeing some of the highest attendance as a school that we've seen in many years. And when I have people on the team who are telling me I've been here for five years, I've never seen attendance this good, that tells that says a lot to me. That says we're moving in the right direction.

Speaker 1: 35:59

And again, I'll tell you, the days that we drop under 90, people's moods like sour. And because we know what we're doing to work and we know how important this is. So again, don't think I'm sitting here saying, oh my God, my attendance is so great. This is a 90 now Because I'm always thinking about that 10%, like what do we do to close the gap with those 10%? But I'm also proud of my team because we are pushing, we're improving on a daily basis, and if we keep doing what we're doing, I can only imagine we will be a year from now, two years from now, when we really perfected what we do and how we do it, to make sure that we're supporting families, not just hunting for kids to pull them into the school building. All right, y'all. This is Uche and Joker Snicker, principal. Thank you again for listening to this long and unexpected episode, but I hope it was helpful to you and again, I look forward to hearing from you in the comments or you can message me directly, and until next time. All right, be well.