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District launches attendance push with car giveaway, teacher incentives and automated parent calls
Summary
Southwest ISD outlined a districtwide attendance initiative that includes campus-level 2% targets, a senior car giveaway (digital-ticket mechanics), daily automated parent calls, an attendance dashboard, and proposed teacher attendance incentives to boost daily presence and revenue tied to attendance.
Southwest ISD officials on Tuesday detailed a multi-pronged attendance initiative designed to raise daily attendance and reduce the district's revenue risk tied to absences.
Laura Garza, an attendance presenter, told trustees the district’s early enrollment was 14,350 and that staff aim for a 2% attendance increase at each campus. The plan pairs student incentives with parent engagement and staff incentives: students earn digital tickets toward a senior car giveaway by attending information sessions or by meeting six-week attendance thresholds (93%, 95% or 97% windows); campuses that achieve additional quartile benchmarks would earn extra cash awards. Garza said the program also includes daily automated phone calls to parents and a district attendance dashboard to monitor trends.
On staff incentives, presenters proposed a $300 quarterly perfect-attendance payment for instructional teachers at targeted campuses and additional $200 and $500 bonuses tied to quartile performance in some cases. The board approved compensation-plan amendments that include teacher attendance stipends and other pay items; staff said some items would be funded by grants while others could be covered by fund balance if needed.
Garza stressed relationships and case-managed interventions as central to reaching chronically absent students: “...every single one of these bullets allow us to build relationships with parents, with staff, with kids,” she said, describing home visits, case management and a daily communication routine.
Board members asked how the incentives would reach students who typically miss school and whether top performers would simply accumulate tickets; presenters said the program includes targeted case management, flexible campus incentives and outreach through parents, appeals and communications teams.
What’s next: Staff will implement the outreach, post materials at campuses, run senior assemblies to explain the car-giveaway rules and monitor attendance via daily reports and dashboards. The board’s compensation-plan vote approved the teacher-incentive stipend components described by staff.
