Santa Rosa board endorses pursuit of 96% attendance target, asks staff for action plan
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Summary
At a Jan. 7 special study session, the Santa Rosa City Schools board directed staff to return with an action plan after discussing a districtwide attendance target of 96% and exploring enrollment and metric priorities tied to academic excellence and enrichment.
The Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Education spent much of its Jan. 7 special study session focusing on academics, enrichment and how to measure progress — and it signaled support for a districtwide attendance target while asking staff for concrete next steps.
The board’s facilitator, Tim McCarthy, framed the meeting as a follow-up to prior workshops on the district’s five strategic priorities. Stacy, the district’s attendance lead, told trustees the district set "a goal for the 25 to 26 school year for all schools to reach toward a 96% average daily attendance," and reviewed recent trends showing small gains at some grade spans and a small dip at the elementary level.
Trustees debated whether to adopt a districtwide numerical target immediately or to ask staff for more analysis first. Several trustees supported keeping the 96% target as an achievable stretch goal that would prompt a gap analysis, while others said the board needed more information about barriers to attendance — such as health, transportation or family scheduling — and how the district would remove them.
Trustees asked staff to return with an action plan that includes: a school-by-school implementation approach, attendance-recovery program options enabled by recent law changes, family engagement strategies, and measurable interim indicators so the board can track year-to-year progress. Stacy said site teams already use local data to identify chronic absenteeism and tailor tiered interventions; she also said a formal attendance-recovery program has not yet been implemented but is a pending task.
The discussion also tied attendance to district finances: staff noted even a 1% increase in average daily attendance can materially affect revenue and that individual schools have varied starting points and opportunities for improvement.
On enrollment, district staff reported wide variation across the city and said the district is capturing roughly 40% to 60% of students who live within its boundaries, depending on neighborhood and charter availability. Trustees asked staff to return with a longitudinal analysis that compares current capture rates to historical trends and peer districts and to outline potential ‘‘low-hanging fruit’’ steps the board or staff could take to retain and attract students.
As part of the meeting wrap-up, the board asked that its next study work include a recommended short list of metrics (three to five) it should prioritize at the board level and a clearer presentation of action items staff would implement to reach those goals. Staff said they would return with more detailed proposals in upcoming sessions.
The meeting concluded with staff noting budget and staffing constraints that will limit the district’s ability to launch new programs without trade-offs.
