Dear County and District Superintendents and Charter School Administrators:

Rising to the Challenge: Strategies to Address Chronic Absenteeism Webinar

I invite you to join our next webinar, Rising to the Challenge: Strategies to Address Chronic Absence, on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The webinar is open to local educational agencies (LEAs), school administrators, educators, support staff, and community partners. This virtual event is an opportunity to learn about proven strategies to support schools, students, and families in the effort to improve attendance. The webinar will also uplift initiatives that directly address chronic absenteeism at the district, school, familial, and communal levels. This is the first in a series of webinars the California Department of Education (CDE) will be presenting in partnership with Attendance Works, one of the nation’s leading authorities on attendance supports for schools, students, and families.

Clearly, we face an unprecedented crisis. Reducing chronic absence has always been a priority of my administration, but the recent spike in chronic absence numbers has elevated our focus even more. Critical to our approach is expanding partnerships and collaboration at every level. Our goal is to provide both immediate resources to respond to urgent challenges and to provide examples of initiatives that address the worsening inequities that challenge families, especially our most vulnerable communities. Participants will learn from experts in research and data analysis as well as practitioners from the field who will offer examples of successful programs that increase attendance.

Panelists include:

• Nancy Kim Portillo, Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction
• Hedy Chang, Executive Director, Attendance Works
• Dr. Erin Simon, Assistant Superintendent Student Support Services, Long Beach Unified School District
• Sherri Hanni, Coordinator, Student Attendance and Engagement, Butte County Office of Education

This is our moment to join together to engage this crisis. We all know that all of the wondrous things that are possible through public education cannot happen for a child unless she or he is in school. Please join us.

Please register in advance for this webinar via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ExAL5T6eS3ypNTHTkcK_vQ, or you can watch a livestream of the webinar on the CDE Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CAEducation.

Sincerely,