Schools

Baldwin Park Unified Part of Campaign to Reward School Attendance

School officials from all over L.A. County, including a representative from Baldwin Park Unified, gathered in Lawndale on Tuesday to promote anti-truancy programs designed to focus more on rewarding school attendance and less on punishing absent students, according to an article on the Huffington Post.

According to the article, the I'm In" campaign is being pushed by districts that are offering small rewards, cash or prizes, for students who have perfect attendance throughout the school year.

A Baldwin Park Unified official spoke at the event and outlined the district program for rewarding good elementary school attendance:

Baldwin Park Unified averages a 96 percent attendance rate, and hopes to ratchet that up to 97 percent during the monthlong campaign, "On Time, In Class Every Day."

"We believe that every student counts," said Stephen Bayne, the district's senior director of business services. "It's important that every student be registered and come to school and have the opportunity to graduate and move into jobs or higher education."

Bayne said truancy problems typically begin to surface in the latter years of elementary school or during junior high, so the district puts a special focus on attendance during the primary grades.

Find out what's happening in Baldwin Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Youngsters with perfect attendance get entered in a drawing for prizes like bicycles and gift certificates, which are donated by local merchants.

According to state figures, 15.9 percent of students at Baldwin Park schools were truant at least once in 2011-12, which is well below state and county average.  You can look up truancy rates at schools across the county using a Patch interactive map at this link.

Find out what's happening in Baldwin Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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