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Gerber Union Elementary School District: How to build an attendance system that works
When students slip through the cracks
The districts making the most progress with reducing chronic absenteeism aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones with the most consistent systems and structures in place.
When Assistant Principal Vanessa Ortiz looked at attendance at Gerber Union Elementary School District in California, she saw a familiar picture: reactive letters, students slipping through the cracks, and no structure to catch them early.
Before ParentSquare Attendance Plus, the approach was ad hoc. The assistant principal, counselor and secretary manually picked dates to send letters, and letters were sent only for unexcused absences. Students who were called in sick repeatedly never triggered any response. No meeting cadence, no shared system for next steps, and no way to see a student’s full history without digging through the student information system (SIS).
“A lot of students were falling under our radar,” said Assistant Principal Ortiz. “Parents would call and say they’re sick. There wasn’t a structure to our attendance management, and there weren’t proactive steps or support put in place.”
If a parent didn’t come in upset, students just kept accumulating absences until the School Attendance Review Board (SARB) got involved. Ortiz knew there had to be a better way.
The approach
Ortiz discovered ParentSquare Attendance Plus, brought it to her team, and they agreed quickly: let’s get it. The district officially started using Attendance Plus in December 2025, but didn’t launch their weekly attendance meetings until early February 2026, when they created their system to review Attendance Plus data.
With the tool in place, a real structured attendance team took shape for the first time, bringing together the assistant principal, school secretary, school counselor, family engagement liaison, wellness coach, social work intern and a county office representative SARB representative. Every Wednesday, the team reviews attendance data, works through each tier, assigns next steps, and celebrates wins. Rather than waiting for a crisis, the team built a proactive, tiered system grounded in consistent weekly meetings and shared accountability.
The outcome
- Gerber shifted from reactive letters to proactive, tiered support, catching students before they reach crisis-level absenteeism.
- A cross-functional attendance team now meets weekly, reviewing every tier with clear ownership and documented next steps.
- Daily attendance jumped from 84% on January 30, 2026 to 94% today, with the district maintaining above 90% since February 1 and reaching as high as 97% on some days—an overall increase of 3-5% in daily attendance percentage.
- Families are connected to resources earlier, including counseling, transportation, and wellness coordination, often before they know those supports exist.
- The team is drafting a formal attendance policy built around the Attendance Plus workflow, going before the board in June 2026.
- Their county office representative called the system “amazing” and wants to share the model with every district in the county.
How a weekly meeting transformed attendance at Gerber Union Elementary School District
Gerber’s success started with building the right team. For the first time, attendance wasn’t one person’s job. The assistant principal, school secretary (who manages all SIS data entry), school counselor, family engagement liaison, wellness coordinator, and a county office representative who attends SARB hearings all sit at the same table every Wednesday.
“Attendance Plus has been the driving force behind our attendance team.”
Vanessa Ortiz, Assistant Principal
01 / 01
The weekly meeting follows a structured, tier-by-tier format:
- Tier 4 (highest concern): The team starts here. Where are we? Has the family had an attendance meeting? Referred to SARB? What are the next steps?
- Tier 3 and Tier 2: Same treatment for each—a case manager update, monthly trend review, and a check on support in place, from transportation and counseling to wellness coordination.
- Tier 1 (celebrations): The meeting finishes with wins. Positive messages go to families of students with excellent attendance, students who’ve improved get recognized, and class-level incentives run throughout the year including prizes such as weekly pencils, monthly pizza parties, end-of-year awards.
“We get a lot of positive feedback when we send our Tier 1 messages out. Parents say, ‘Thank you so much…we’re trying really hard, we appreciate the recognition,'” said Ortiz.
The features that make it stick
Two Attendance Plus features anchor the team’s workflow. The student attendance profile shows each student’s full attendance pattern at a glance in a calendar format. The team no longer digs through the SIS to piece together absences and notes.
“The student profile that shows all days absent, excused and unexcused, is super helpful. It gives us everything in one picture,” said Ortiz. “We don’t have to look through our SIS and be like, when were they absent? What do the notes say?”
Case manager task assignment creates clear ownership. Everyone knows who’s responsible for which student and what comes next. The team also added ParentSquare Virtual Phone to their toolkit, giving staff a way to make after-hours outreach calls without sharing personal numbers.
From reactive to proactive
Attendance has improved significantly. Since launching their weekly meetings in early February, Gerber has seen daily attendance jump from 84% on January 30 to 94% today, maintaining above 90% consistently and reaching as high as 97% on some days. The team’s goal is to finish the year with an average of 95%, and they believe they can meet it with the help of Attendance Plus.
“The most meaningful change is that we now have a system where we are consistently talking about attendance and we can align resources to those families in need.”
Vanessa Ortiz, Assistant Principal
94%
attendance rate—up from 84% in January 2026
01 / 01
Ortiz points to two shifts driving these numbers: families know the school is paying attention (parents who called in sick ten times a month are realizing they’ll hear from someone), and families are getting connected to support earlier. Gerber has counseling, wellness coordination, transportation, and more. The challenge was that families didn’t always know those resources existed. Now, weekly reviews mean no one waits until SARB to get help.
“Families are starting to recognize, oh, I can use that support. Oh, that is available to us. It’s easier for us to have a positive relationship with them when they know they have access to these resources,” said Ortiz.
Attendance Plus is also driving policy change: the team is drafting a formal attendance policy built around the workflow, going before the board in June 2026 and into the student handbook next fall. A tool built a team. A team built a policy.
“The most meaningful change is that we now have a system where we are consistently talking about attendance and we can align resources to those families in need,” said Ortiz.
See what’s possible with ParentSquare Attendance Plus
Gerber built their attendance system in half a school year. The team, the weekly cadence, the tiered approach, the celebrations. And even better, it’s already becoming district policy.
Attendance Plus gives school and district teams the structure, visibility, and communication tools to move from reactive to proactive, even before students reach SARB.