LAUSD effort is underway to cut down the number of students who skip class

One family got a visit from Superintendent Carvalho who said ‘sometimes school comes to you’

Between working full-time as a housekeeper and taking care of her five kids, Eleuteria Perez doesn’t often have time to think about their school attendance rates. Perez tries to instill in her kids the importance of showing up to class every day, especially because she didn’t have the same education opportunities growing up on a tight income in Mexico.

“I want their futures to be better, and school is necessary for that,” Perez said in Spanish.

But two of Perez’s daughters, both Los Angeles Unified School District high schoolers, are often absent from school. Yaretzi, a ninth grade student, attributed her frequent absences to the stress of social and academic issues.

Perez’s family got a visit from LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and several staff members from Yaretzi’s high school on Wednesday, Aug. 7, as part of the district’s iAttend efforts to curb chronic absenteeism.

Carvalho and Yaretzi bonded over musicians like Olivia Rodrigo and Kendrick Lamar, and he talked to her mother about resources including school counselors and local school bus routes.

Yaretzi said she is “scared and nervous” about school, but with the first day of the 2024-25 school year coming up on Aug. 12, she now wants “to go every day.”

Yaretzi and her mother are one of 34,000 LAUSD families who have received home visits as part of the iAttend initiative. As families juggle work, transportation, school and situations such as food insecurity or financial struggles, it can be difficult to focus on getting to school. Carvalho said the iAttend initiative “meets families where they are.”

“There are so many factors going on that impact attendance,” Carvalho said. “We have to work to be there as support. Sometimes you go to school, sometimes school comes to you.”

In 2023, 31% of LAUSD students were chronically absent, meaning they missed 10% or more of 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.