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September 2025 Attendance Reminders and Resources

Published on

DATE:  
September 9, 2025

TO:  
Principals and Assistant Principals

FROM: 
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
McKinley Withers, Health and Wellness Consultant
Michelle Reyes, Attendance/Prevention Specialist, Student Services

SUBJECT:
Proactive Tools for Addressing Attendance Throughout 2025-26

Districtwide data indicates that chronic absenteeism is a growing problem. Throughout the school year, Student Services will be providing resources, tools, and reminders to help our District address this critical issue. Research consistently shows that regular school attendance is directly linked to higher academic achievement, improved social-emotional development, and a greater likelihood of on-time graduation. When students are present, they are more engaged in learning, build stronger relationships with their peers and teachers, and don’t fall behind on foundational skills.

In short, attendance is important! Together, we can make an impact on students’ futures by addressing attendance. As part of this collective effort, using the State’s Every Day Counts Attendance Initiative, we’ve developed the following attendance theme:

Attendance Campaign Theme: “We’re Better When You’re Here”
(Use this link for PDFs to print or email Michelle for prints)

September 2025 Attendance Resources and Reminders

  1. Proactive Communication on the importance of attendance is essential and impactful at the beginning of the year, use one of these links to communicate with your school community.
    1. Attendance Essentials (Spanish)-Parent handout with essential attendance information
    2. Stay At Home Checklist (Spanish)
    3. Beginning of the Year Attendance Nudge/Social Media Message (Spanish)
  2. Review current data.
    1. Start by reviewing the previous school year's attendance records. Look at metrics like average daily attendance (ADA), chronic absenteeism rates (students missing 10% or more of the school year), and attendance rates by grade level, demographic group, and teacher. This data will serve as your baseline and help you identify specific problem areas. For example, you might find that chronic absenteeism is higher in a particular grade or among a certain student population.
    2. Employing Panorama to acquire and review attendance data is the most efficient way to access chronic absence rates and drill down into attendance issues with certain demographics. Find a Panorama attendance how-to guide here.
  3. Review additional resources relevant to your school’s needs!

Questions? Contact Michelle Reyes at michelle.reyes@jordandistrict.org or 801-567-8205.

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