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TUSD centralizes community liaisons, launches targeted plan to curb chronic absenteeism
Summary
Tucson Unified’s student‑relations team will consolidate 37 community liaison positions under its office, extend hours and add data compliance tools to target high‑risk students and reduce excessive absenteeism; the plan repurposes override funds and emphasizes person‑to‑person outreach.
Tucson Unified School District on Tuesday unveiled a districtwide attendance and enrollment stabilization initiative that moves 37 existing community liaison positions under the Student Relations department, extends their hours and adds new data‑tracking and compliance requirements intended to bring chronically absent students back into classrooms.
The plan, presented by Senior Director Anna Warbrand and project manager Jules O’Harren, focuses first on a set of roughly 5,826 students identified as high‑risk under MTSS (multi‑tiered system of supports). Warbrand said 3,297 of those students already have attendance‑focused MTSS plans and that the district will triage and target students with “tier‑three” needs using an expanded team of liaisons, community health workers and restorative practitioners.
Warbrand told the board that email and automated calls have limited effectiveness and that “person‑to‑person communication, person‑to‑person connections” are what the district needs to interrupt long‑term patterns of absence. The proposal would centralize supervision and evaluation in Student Relations, add back‑end reporting tools built with the Synergy team so each visit and parent contact is logged, and fund roughly 40 percent of each liaison through the override allocation dedicated to attendance initiatives.
CFO Ricky Hernandez said the override includes roughly $900,000 for attendance work; under the staff plan about $563,000 would be used to cover part of liaison costs while returning roughly $227,000 to school site budgets previously used to pay for those positions.
Board members voiced questions about implementation details, such as how many liaisons are currently filled, whether the new data work is in role descriptions and how principals and the district will support liaisons who do fieldwork and intensive family outreach. Warbrand said the district will provide side‑by‑side training, phased integration and a 10‑day monitoring cycle so program coordinators can track interventions and outcomes.
The district also said it will coordinate the liaisons with existing dropout‑prevention, Aspire and PBIS teams to ensure students with substance‑use, behavioral or chronic health barriers receive the appropriate services. Warbrand said she expects to show early, measurable improvements this school year and plans to return to the board with data and potential program refinements.
The board took no action Tuesday; staff said the item was informational and that implementation will begin July 1 with training and data systems rolled out before fall enrollment.
