Yakima School District reports 89% average daily attendance; staff outline interventions

Yakima School District officials reported updated attendance figures and outlined strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism during the Jan. 5 school board meeting.

District presenters described three distinct attendance measures used for planning and accountability. Omar Santoy introduced the briefing, explaining the district’s strategic-plan target — that students enrolled for 180 days attend at least 171 days (a 95% threshold) — and how that measure differs from state calculations. "Our strategic plan calls for 95% of our students meeting that threshold," Santoy said.

Sean Arminzke presented the district’s data and noted the difference between state and local measures. He said OSPI’s preliminary regular-attendance rate for 2024–25 is 65.3% and that OSPI requires students to be enrolled 90 consecutive days to be counted in their metric. "For the past three years, we've maintained 88% on the Skyward period attendance rate," Arminzke said, adding that the district is currently at an 89% daily average attendance rate.

Supervisory staff and board members discussed the practical implications of the different measures. Erin Thomas said the district’s Skyward period metric counts students from the day they enroll and is closer to actual seat time, while the strategic-plan calculation counts only students enrolled for the full year and must be computed after year-end. Thomas said the district is working to provide clearer cohort reporting so the metrics are more meaningful for the board.

Board members pressed staff about the fiscal impact of absences. A staff member explained that when a student is absent for 20 consecutive days they are treated as withdrawn for funding counts; if the student returns they are reenrolled and included in subsequent counts. Board members noted that withdrawals and low attendance together can reduce per‑pupil revenue.

On interventions, Thomas described multi-tiered supports and an automated family-notification system launching Jan. 23 that will send email notices at attendance milestones (for example, after three, five or seven absences) directing families to Skyward family access. "When a student hits a milestone of maybe three absences or five or seven absences, we can send an email to the parent directing them to Skyward," Thomas said. She also confirmed staff continue to use early interventions such as home visits when students begin to show persistent absence patterns.

Public comment during the meeting echoed the emphasis on out-of‑school learning and family engagement. Former board member Bunker Frank urged the district to apply the same focus to supplementary and summer learning as it does to regular school-day attendance and to strengthen measurable parent-involvement practices.

Next steps: staff will continue to run and refine the cohort and period attendance reports, implement the automated notification system on Jan. 23, and provide additional breakdowns on transfer/enrollment cohorts and their effect on year-end strategic-plan calculations.