By Maysen Marolda
Staff Writer
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Trustees addressed chronic absenteeism, which is missing 10 percent or more of school days for any reason, emphasizing that regular school attendance is a necessary part of the learning process at its April 5 Board of Trustees meeting.
MBUSD Deputy Superintendent Dr. Dawnalyn Murakawa-Leopard gave a presentation to the Board members regarding the specifics of absenteeism, with the emphasis that regular school attendance is necessary to the learning process.
“Attendance has always been a critical issue,” Murakawa-Leopard said. “It is challenging because the students who miss the class time do not get the same quality of instruction.”
According to Murakawa-Leopard, chronic absenteeism is a proven early warning sign of academic risk and school dropout. Chronic absenteeism occurred in three percent of Costa students from April 2016 to March 2017.
The board highlighted that MBUSD loses between $38 and $47 from the state each day that a student is absent, which negatively impacts students’ educations because less money is funded per pupil.
“While our primary focus is the impact that attendance has on a student’s academic performance, it is true that there is a fiscal impact to the district,” Murakawa-Leopard said. “Clearly, the amount of money could make a huge difference.”
In the past, the focus of dealing with absenteeism was addressing student absence issues through the disciplinary process such as detentions for excessive absences. However, now MBUSD is shifting to provide a more intervention-based, positive approach, working with families in order to understand why students are experiencing frequent absences, Murakawa-Leopard said.
“We’ll be working over the next few months to develop a system of intervention and support which would provide increasing levels of intervention as the severity of the issues increase,” Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Megan Atkins said.
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