September as Child Welfare and Attendance Month (as submitted for approval)

• 

Whereas, The Compulsory Education Act was enacted in 1903 and the Governing Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District appointed the first Attendance Officer to enforce compliance with the compulsory attendance mandate, creating the Pupil Services and Attendance Division;

Whereas, In September 2017, the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute celebrated the first National Child Welfare Workforce Development Month, and honored the hard work of child welfare professionals in improving outcomes for children, youth, and families;

Whereas, In our schools, Child Welfare & Attendance Counselors are called Pupil Services and Attendance Counselors (PSA Counselors). They focus on children’s safety and wellbeing, strengthening families by providing services and referrals, and they reconnect youth to schools;

Whereas, The pandemic highlighted that our schools are severely underfunded. It also opened our eyes to the importance of supporting the whole child, their socio-emotional learning, and their mental health, making child welfare a priority;

Whereas, Absenteeism is a significant problem that caused learning loss among more than 200,000 LAUSD students during the 2021-2022 school year, as absenteeism and truancy impact our children regardless of age, race, gender, and socioeconomic status;

Whereas, The National Child Welfare Workforce Development Month in September offers an opportunity to recognize and honor the work of Child Welfare and Attendance Counselors, who help vulnerable children and their families. It provides an opportunity to educate the community and policymakers about the effectiveness of truancy and dropout prevention interventions, supported by the California Legislature as outlined in the California Education Code (EC) sections 48240–48244;

Whereas, Pupil Services and Attendance Counselors are frontline professionals who are indispensable in identifying resources and fostering partnerships with community-based organizations to complement existing school programs;

Whereas, Pupil Services and Attendance Counselors conduct assessments to identify issues that may impact attendance and barriers to learning, to facilitate linkages to services that meet the needs of the whole child while simultaneously integrating multi-tiered interventions to promote overall wellness of the family, to address absenteeism, truancy and to support students of culturally diverse populations;

Whereas, Pupil Services and Attendance Counselors identify individual student strengths, using databased decision-making processes to ensure academic success by implementing intervention strategies that evaluate outcomes and improve accountability with reliable research and documentation processes;

Whereas, Pupil Services and Attendance Counselors increase graduation rates and prevent students from dropping out. They increase access to college pathways, link students and families to services, and provide comprehensive services to foster and homeless youth;

Whereas, Pupil Services and Attendance Counselors re-engage out-of-school youth back into an educational setting, ensuring the successful transition and re-enrollment of all students following juvenile detention;

Whereas, Pupil Services and Attendance Counselors help parents, guardians, tutors, and other heads of households by focusing on personalized pathways to further their children’s educational, personal, and social growth.; and

Whereas, The Association of Pupil Services and Attendance Counselors (APSAC) has declared the last Friday of September as the Child Welfare and Attendance (PSA) Counselor Day; now therefore be it

Resolved, That the Governing Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District hereby declares the month of September 2022, as the Child Welfare and Attendance Month and the last Tuesday of September as the Pupil Services and Attendance Counselors Day; and be it finally

Resolved, That the District will continue to promote attendance awareness by using District websites and social media outlets, conducting home visits, engaging families, and taking action to strengthen child welfare in our communities.