Supt. Carvalho: ‘Sometimes School Comes to You’. iAttend Program Combats School Absenteeism

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Los Angeles Unified School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and a team of officials visited the homes of chronically absent students.

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools are back on Monday, August 12, after the students’ summer break. In anticipation of the new school year, LAUSD faculty, teachers, and administrators have been visiting families through their iAttend program. Their goal is to increase attendance and decrease chronic absenteeism across the district.

Last month, Los Angeles Unified School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and a team of officials visited the homes of chronically absent students for the district’s fifth iAttend Student Outreach Day, an initiative to promote daily attendance.

The program was introduced after LAUSD’s chronic absenteeism rate skyrocketed to 40% for the 2021-22 school year, after students returned to in-person classes following remote instruction during the pandemic, according to the California Department of Education. In the 2022-23 school year, the district has been able to decrease that number to 30%, Carvalho said.

“We are here to provide resources and make parents aware of all the benefits of ensuring their children are at school every day,” said Andre Spicer, LAUSD regional superintendent, who oversees 200 schools.

In 2023, 31% of LAUSD students were chronically absent, meaning they missed 10% or more of the school days they were enrolled to attend, according to the California Department of Education dashboard. Student attendance has steadily increased since the drops during and immediately after the pandemic, and Carvalho said he attributes that in part to the iAttend initiative.