Shawnee Mission reports drop in chronic absenteeism, expands mental-health and student‑voice programs

Shawnee Mission School District officials on Jan. 13 reported a drop in chronic absenteeism and described new and expanded supports aimed at student attendance, mental health and belonging.

The districtsaid chronic absenteeism fell from 22 percent to 18 percent in December compared with the same point last year, and administrators credited new attendance specialists, increased family outreach and school‑level supports for the improvement.

The update came during a presentation by Student and Family Services that summarized the departmentwork over the past year, including expanded attendance outreach, mental‑health programming and student leadership programs such as YES (Youth Equity Stewardship), Sources of Strength and 0 Reasons Why.

"We set out to renew, review our internal practices for recording attendance and make unnecessary adjustments to support our building teams," said Dr. John McKinney, Director of Student Family Services. "We expanded communication on the importance and impact of attendance, and we identified barriers and have been relentless in removing challenges for students and families."

Memo Rodriguez, one of the district's attendance specialists…