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West Potomac staff say new outreach, WRAP program helped cut chronic absenteeism
Summary
School staff described a set of attendance interventions — outreach calls by 35 staffers, late buses, attendance report cards and a reworked Friday program called WRAP — and reported reductions in chronic absenteeism from a 27% peak to 19% by year-end, with further declines reported afterward.
Statz, a staff member at West Potomac, said the school arrived at the start of its work in November 2023 with chronic absenteeism at about 23% that rose to roughly 27% within two months, prompting a coordinated effort to change course.
Dalton, a staff member, said the school’s primary goal was to make school more accessible and inclusive and described a targeted outreach effort that deployed 35 staff members to call families when students were absent and, when available, offer a bus to bring the student to school. “We re-engaged our teachers with best practices for building strong relationships with students,” Dalton said.
Bishop, a staff member, described rebranding and reworking an existing Friday detention into the Wolverines Recovering Attendance Program (WRAP), a voluntary, study-hall-style after-school program that offers raffle prizes, pizza and often connects participants to evening sporting events. Bishop said late buses were provided so transportation would not block participation: “The new program provided students with the opportunity to stay after school in a study hall-like environment, complete with raffle prizes and pizza at the end,” Bishop said.
Dalton said the school also emphasized clearer communication with students and families, issuing attendance report cards and holding a targeted meeting for 12th-graders who were close to chronic-absence thresholds; Dalton said informing seniors of their status often sufficed to restore daily attendance.
Statz reported outcomes the staff credited to the combined efforts: “By the end of the year, we had reduced chronic absenteeism from its high mark of 27% down to 19%,” he said, and added that the school reduced it again by another 8% last year and was on track for further reductions this year. The presenters attributed the sustained improvement to coordinated staff outreach, targeted programming and transportation support.
The presentation did not include formal votes or actions and did not specify district-level approvals, year-by-year student counts, or exact calendar dates for the ‘‘another 8%’’ reduction. Reporters and officials seeking additional data or documentation — for example, the absolute number of students affected, or district validation of percentage changes — would need to request records from the school or district.
