District 207 school officials on Tuesday rolled out a districtwide attendance initiative, “Every Day Counts,” that sets a 95% attendance expectation, creates new makeup-work timelines and applies daily participation standards for extracurriculars.
The board heard a detailed presentation on the multi-tiered plan from Kylene Koya, the district’s new director of student services, and Superintendent Mary Kalu, who said the plan aims to reduce chronic absenteeism and strengthen student connectedness.
The plan matters because District 207’s chronic absenteeism has increased since 2018 and the district projects the 2025 rate will be higher than its 2024 rate, which was about 33 percent, officials said. The district tied attendance declines to both pandemic-era disruptions and ongoing patterns of unexcused absences and tardies.
District leaders described the plan as a multi-tiered system of supports. At tier 1 (universal supports) the district will: set a 95% attendance expectation (defined as missing no more than two days in a month), teach consistent reporting procedures for absences, adopt a new makeup-work guideline (a five-day window to make up work for each absence, with flexibility for extended absences), and publicize expectations to families and students. “What we want is to be very clear and communicative about our expectations so that students know what we expect of them,” Kylene Koya said.
Targeted (tier 2) measures include a “First 30” outreach program focused on 10th–12th graders who showed attendance needs last semester; the district will assign a staff member to check in and coordinate supports for those students. Kylene said the district will pilot an attendance screener to help match students to appropriate group interventions based on identified root causes.
Intensive (tier 3) interventions will expand existing advocate supports. The district said it will use a program partnership (the SAA-LOC program with North Cook) to provide one-on-one advocacy for roughly 50 students at two schools and a smaller-scale service at the third school. Those advocates will use a research-based “check and connect” intervention to address chronic patterns of absence.
New daily and weekly data tools will support the rollout. The district said it has built automated, rostered reports that will email coaches and sponsors each morning with only the students who have not met extracurricular attendance thresholds; teachers will receive rolling five-day attendance reports for their rosters; and families will receive same-day absence notifications if the school has not received an excuse.
Administrators stressed the plan is not solely punitive. The district will exempt certain co‑curricular events that are graded course activities and will create individualized plans for students with IEPs, 504 plans, or other documented needs. Kylene said the daily participation policy for practices, performances and competitions requires students to be present in the building and not miss more than two periods that day (three or more periods missed would disqualify participation that day). The policy also treats excessive tardies (arrivals more than 10 minutes late three or more times) as part of the daily threshold.
District staff said communication and training will be phased in, with some measures starting after the first week to allow time for teaching expectations. “We are hoping to pull our students out of that cycle of catch-up and help them access all the supports the schools offer,” Kylene Koya said.
Discussion vs. decision: The board received the plan as an informational rollout and will monitor implementation rather than vote on new board policy language immediately. Administrators said some implementation details (for example, timeframes and specific report schedules) will be refined during the first semester and brought back to the board if formal policy change is needed.
The district also said it will track program uptake and outcomes and provide biweekly or quarterly updates to parents and the board so stakeholders can evaluate whether attendance trends improve.