District highlights attendance campaign; Lindbergh reduces chronic absenteeism

Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools on May 13 highlighted a spring attendance campaign called Attend to Achieve and shared quarterly attendance metrics showing improvement toward district goals.

Dr. Sarah Lucero, Executive Director of Student Services, presented the campaign results and named district student winners in elementary, middle and high school categories. She said the district’s average daily attendance for the quarter stood at 90.6%, 0.3 percentage points below the annual goal of 90.9%.

Lucero singled out Lindbergh Elementary as an example of sustained improvement. She said Lindbergh’s chronic absenteeism dropped from 57% in 2021 to 25% in the current report, a decline she described as a 31.7 percentage-point improvement that she credited to sustained school efforts: celebrating successes, community engagement and targeted outreach.

Board members asked questions about how attendance gains would be sustained. Lucero said continued building-level focus, family engagement, and monitoring through MTSS were key to maintaining progress. The presentation prefaced a larger discussion about implementing district strategies to reduce absenteeism and increase on-time attendance.