Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools officials reported first-quarter attendance improvements and described new district policies and outreach designed to keep students in classrooms, including asynchronous remote learning options, an attendance recovery requirement and targeted attendance sweeps.

Superintendent Dr. Denise Watts said the district reached about 80% of students attending at least 90% of enrolled school days in the first quarter, up from 77% at the close of the previous school year. District leaders credited several interventions including attendance sweeps, family outreach and new policy tools for the early gains.

"Being at school showing up matters, in many ways beyond the academics, but also socially," Dr. Denise Watts said. She described an early attendance sweep in which district student affairs staff visited 167 families and credited community partners and local leaders for supporting the outreach.

Under the district's new attendance policy and regulation, families can request up to five asynchronous remote learning days for the year to keep students connected when short-term absences occur. The policy also includes an attendance recovery component: students may recover up to five missed days per semester through structured learning opportunities at schools. District leaders emphasized these measures are intended to restore missed instructional time rather than punish families.

Officials said other efforts include pilots to nudge family engagement, expanded nutrition outreach to entice attendance (such as themed meals on lower-attendance days), and targeted supports for high schools, which the district identified as an area needing continued improvement. Dr. Laura May, who presented assessment data at the briefing, said elementary schools led attendance gains while high schools remained a focus for further work.

The district also announced plans to review school capacity and attendance zones over the next two months and to roll out an engagement plan if boundary changes are considered. Dr. Watts said there are no boundary changes this school year but the district is beginning early community engagement for potential future changes.

District leaders noted a requirement to align the district's cell phone policy with recent state-level legislative changes and set an adoption deadline of Jan. 1, with anticipated full implementation the following school year.

Officials said they are monitoring other external pressures on district finances and programming, including possible state measures such as House Bill 782, and said they were tightening budgeting and scrutinizing expenditures to protect programs that demonstrate a return on investment.