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Westwind Elementary tells board its attendance fell then rebounded; launches coding and drone units
Summary
Westwind Elementary staff briefed the Lancaster School District board on attendance strategies that staff say reduced chronic absences by over 20% in two years, highlighted a four‑week drone programming unit and revived PTA and AVID efforts to boost family engagement and academic rigor.
Westwind Elementary Principal Michelle White told the Lancaster School District board that her school has focused this year on reducing chronic absences through targeted outreach, weekly team meetings and incentives such as student highlights on social media. White said the school’s attendance team makes regular phone calls and messages to families and that those efforts have helped reduce chronic absenteeism by more than 20% over the last two years. She said, as of the presentation, nine student absences remained unverified.
White introduced her leadership and support team, including Emily Rodriguez (family ambassador), Catherine Marina (school counselor), Chy Haard (instructional coach), and others, and described partnerships with the district’s expanded-learning program (ELOP), which she said serves 181 students at the site. The team said weekly coordination with ELOP staff has helped with supervision and student safety at pick‑up times.
Instructional staff described literacy interventions and assessment practices: implementation of SIPs for grades 4–5, small-group instruction, teacher professional development, and use of diagnostic and common formative assessments (i-Ready and CFAs) to set goals and monitor progress. The instructional coach said these targeted interventions and regular PLC (professional learning community) data reviews guide which students are selected for intervention and how staff measure progress.
Presenters also outlined hands‑on STEM offerings. Teachers repurposed 3D printing equipment into student design projects and launched a four‑week drone programming unit combining remote-control operation and coding aimed at problem solving, collaboration and computational thinking. The school’s technology coach summarized "Code to the Future," a K–8, project‑based coding curriculum using Scratch that the district is piloting to build early computer science skills.
Al, Westwind’s assistant principal, said the AVID program has been reinstated in lower grades after staff attended a summer institute; the school set two goals — academic rigor and organizational tools — and plans to expand fidelity across grade levels.
Board members praised the presentation, noting the reported attendance improvements and the breadth of enrichment opportunities. The board did not take formal action on the presentation; the session moved to the district assessment update.
Ending: The board thanked Westwind staff and moved to the next agenda item.
