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Trustees hear district warn of rising absences tied to immigration fears amid literacy rollout
Summary
Superintendent and staff told the board that community fear about immigration enforcement has driven daily absences of at least 800 students since mid-January, reducing instructional time at a moment when the district is implementing early-literacy interventions.
During the March 13 San Mateo-Foster City School District Board meeting, Superintendent Ooa and other staff raised a sustained attendance concern they tied to community anxiety about immigration enforcement.
The superintendent reported that between the middle of January and the meeting date the district had “a minimum of 800 kids absent from school” on many days, compared with pre-January absences that tended to be below 600 and roughly 95% overall attendance earlier in the year. Staff and trustees said the absences mean some students are missing opportunities to benefit from the district’s early-literacy interventions and that the district is coordinating outreach to families.
District leaders said responses include communicating supports to families, using outreach coordinators to call home, leveraging counselors to address social-emotional needs, and relying on TOSAs and principal teams to problem-solve for students who miss instruction. The board discussed operational impacts — including how missing school days can delay progress for students targeted for acceleration — and asked staff to track and report how absenteeism affects program outcomes.
Why it matters: The absenteeism trend intersects directly with the district’s early-literacy rollout; staff emphasized that lost instructional days complicate efforts to reach the district’s stated threshold of 80% of students accessing effective Tier 1 instruction.
What board members said: Trustees praised staff for efforts to maintain instructional continuity and asked for continued transparency about attendance trends and budgetary or programmatic adjustments the district may need to make in response. Staff said they will work with community partners and the district’s outreach coordinators to support families and reduce barriers to attendance.
What’s next: Staff flagged the issue for ongoing attention and suggested periodic reports to the board on attendance trends and their effects on literacy outcomes.
