By: Dr. Mercedes Gómez and Diego Reyes, Mountain View School District
For years, our district’s attendance efforts were driven by good intentions but limited by disconnected systems. Like many others, we worked hard to ensure every student was present and supported, yet staff spent more time entering data than analyzing it.
Mountain View School District serves 4,700 TK–8 students across eight schools in El Monte, California. Our community is vibrant, diverse, and multilingual—nearly every family speaks a language other than English at home. We’ve always believed that education works best when families are partners. Yet our tools for managing attendance hadn’t caught up to that belief.
A Familiar Challenge
Each school had developed its own attendance process. Some relied on spreadsheets; others kept paper logs or shared updates through email. The lack of consistency made it difficult to spot trends or evaluate which strategies worked best.
We also recognized that communication wasn’t always equitable. Some families received calls in English only, while others got letters that never made it home or out of a student’s backpack. In a community as linguistically rich as ours, every parent deserved clear, timely information about their child’s progress.
And with California Education Code 48326 requiring formal attendance teams by 2026, we wanted to prepare early and build something sustainable rather than react at the last minute.
A Shift Toward Systemwide Visibility
We decided to take a districtwide approach—creating a culture of proactive communication where attendance was seen as part of student success, not just an administrative task.
That’s when we began using ParentSquare Attendance Plus, a system that let our teams document interventions, track outreach, and view attendance trends in real time. The real breakthrough was how our teams used a shared system to work together in new ways.
From the start, school leaders, clerks, and attendance teams met regularly to share insights. Their feedback helped refine dashboards and workflows that made tracking easier and faster. Staff who once worked in isolation could now see how their efforts fit into a districtwide picture. Principals could celebrate improvements, and district leaders could identify where additional support was needed.
Changing the Culture of Attendance
What surprised us most was how quickly the mindset shifted. Instead of focusing on who was absent, our teams began discussing how to encourage presence. Attendance conversations became positive and relationship-driven.
We started sending messages that recognized progress; celebrating students who improved, families who responded quickly, and teachers who found creative ways to keep learners engaged. Those small gestures helped rebuild trust.
As one principal put it, “We stopped asking, ‘Why weren’t you here?’ and started asking, ‘What can we do to help you get here?’”
That same philosophy guided broader communication changes. We redesigned our district and school websites so every family could access key information—such as attendance policies, available supports, and celebrations—in their preferred language on mobile-friendly sites.
Real Results, Real Connection
Within months of implementing our new attendance system, all eight schools were participating, and staff had logged thousands of family messages. Attendance climbed above 94 percent, and engagement across campuses strengthened. We also launched an attendance campaign called ‘Success Starts With Showing Up,’ to help reach our attendance goal of 98%.
Real-time data meant no student slipped through the cracks. When a pattern appeared, teams could respond quickly—assigning tasks, tracking follow-ups, and documenting outreach. Accountability and empathy finally lived in the same space.
The efficiency gains were immediate, too. Hours once spent on manual entry disappeared, freeing clerks to focus on relationships rather than paperwork. Principals now review attendance dashboards in leadership meetings to guide decisions.
Looking Ahead
As the 2026 compliance deadline approaches, our school district is already ready—confident, and aligned around shared values. We’ve shown that managing attendance isn’t just about compliance, it’s about connection.
Every data point now tells a story—a student, a family, a circumstance that can change with the right support. Seeing patterns earlier allows us to respond with care and help every student feel seen.
A Model for Collaboration
The greatest lesson we’ve learned is that sustainable change happens when everyone has a voice. From clerks and counselors to principals and parents, each perspective shaped how we now approach attendance.
What began as a compliance challenge has become a model of collaboration. Attendance is no longer about simply being present—it’s about being valued. When families know schools are reaching out to help, the result is stronger trust, better communication, and improved outcomes for students.
At Mountain View, we’ve learned that accountability and compassion aren’t opposites—they work together. By unifying communication and tracking, we’ve seen that attendance is more than a metric; it’s a relationship that helps build a thriving, connected school community where every student belongs.