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Wichita reports modest gains in attendance; district to continue daily notifications and community partnerships
Summary
District officials reported improvements in average daily attendance across levels, crediting new daily notifications, community partnerships and school‑level interventions; elementary ADT reached 92.2%, middle school 90.3% and high school 87.9% as reported from district data.
District officials told the board on June 9 that average daily attendance (ADA) rose this school year across levels and that the district will continue new strategies aimed at reducing chronic absenteeism.
“Forty‑six of our schools showed improvement in attendance this year,” said Dr. Frazee (elementary office), reporting an elementary ADA of 92.2 percent. District presenters said middle schools rose from 89.5 percent to 90.3 percent and high schools from 86.7 to 87.9 percent.
Staff said these figures come from the district’s Synergy attendance system and that the state’s building report cards — which KSDE finalizes in the fall — will provide the official numbers used on state reports.
The district described practical steps that helped: it started everydaylabs notifications this year to families (a combination of letters and text messages) that flag attendance concerns; staff said the system is designed to increase awareness and connect families to resources. Presenters also cited community partners — such as Pando, Love Schools and the WPS Foundation — that help identify family needs and remove attendance barriers.
“We started that this year and we would like to continue that next year,” a district presenter said of the daily notification system.
Board members asked for clarification about chronic absenteeism and ADA: district staff said chronic absenteeism counts students who miss at least 10 percent of the school year (including excused and unexcused absences) and that ADA is the percent of enrolled students present on an average day.
District staff said next steps include monthly professional development on attendance for school staff, continued partnership work to address barriers and sustained use of the notification system. Presenters emphasized that improving attendance requires both school‑level practices and community coordination.
No formal board action was taken; staff said they will return with continued monitoring and referenced materials explaining everydaylabs and attendance strategies on the district website.
