Discover the latest attendance-related news in Florida

Located in southwestern Florida on the Gulf coast, the School District of Lee County is the 8th largest district in the state, serving over 100,000 students across grades K-12. Despite having done significant, successful work to slash their chronic absenteeism rates nearly in half pre-pandemic, the district faced the same post-pandemic chronic absenteeism challenges as many other districts nationwide. Paul Milford, Administrator of Social Work Services, was tasked with leading the charge to turn absenteeism around. Read on to discover how positive communications and better access to data re-engaged families and got more students back on track for better attendance.