Bellevue board hears attendance report; officials target chronic absenteeism reductions and expanded outreach
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Summary
District staff reported on chronic absenteeism — defined as missing 10% or more of school days — and proposed MTSS-based interventions, earlier outreach, multilingual communications and technology tools to reduce absenteeism from roughly 25% toward 20% and beyond.
The Bellevue School District Board of Directors received a department report June 26 on attendance and chronic absenteeism, including district targets and next steps to reduce prolonged student absences.
Glenn Haslinger, the district’s director of student engagement, told the board that national practice defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10% or more of the school year and that Bellevue’s current chronic-absence rate was about a quarter of students. “What we’re looking at here, obviously, is trying to reduce that from current 25 percent down to 20 percent,” Haslinger said, and he added a “stretch goal” of cutting chronic absenteeism in half.
Haslinger described four common root‑cause categories that, in his experience, account for roughly 95% of chronic attendance cases and emphasized the district’s Multi‑Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) approach. He urged consistent labeling of absence types in the student information system so interventions can be targeted, and he said the district will expand elementary‑level MTSS, provide staff training, improve family communication and pursue technology solutions to enable more timely, real‑time attendance notifications.
Directors asked about equity and communications. Director Martha Trias said the district’s chronic absenteeism rate is “26.1 percent” and urged more early intervention and materials in multiple languages. Director Monica Webster pressed for data on transportation barriers and asked whether the district could produce midyear and year‑end attendance reports so the board and community can track progress.
Other directors recommended reviewing the tone of attendance notifications to avoid alienating families, expanding early‑warning systems and developing individualized attendance intervention plans for students facing extenuating life circumstances. Haslinger and board members noted that chronically absent students are significantly less likely to meet standards on Smarter Balanced assessments than peers who attend at 95% or better; Haslinger said chronically absent students “are half as likely to pass a Smarter Balanced [assessment] than those who have no attendance issues,” with larger gaps for historically marginalized groups.
Board members and staff discussed concrete outreach tactics: short multilingual videos, PTA partnerships, translating realtime notifications, and stronger connections to afterschool activities and athletics to build belonging. The board asked staff to return with more precise data on transportation‑related absences, metrics for evaluating pilot interventions, and recommendations for staff training and family communication tools for the 2025–26 school year.
No formal board action was taken; the item was presented for information and guidance and will inform the district’s attendance work ahead of the coming school year.
