A new attendance initiative program called “We Come to School” was implemented by the district Nov. 7, 2017.

An email sent to parents in the district, introduced the program, which encourages parents to send children to school as often as they can. The district will receive additional government funding that will offset the failure to renew the Measure A parcel tax with a higher attendance rate.

“We just want to call attention to the attendance at each school and encourage parents to send their children to school every day and use our breaks for vacations, excursions, doctor appointments, etc. We are offering incentives by paying cash awards that the student governments will be able to decide how to spend within certain parameters and with the approval of the principal,” superintendent Tony Knight wrote to the Talon. “Sometimes just calling attention to something makes a difference — and just pointing out the month-to-month numbers may make a difference because everyone knows we are working very hard to raise money we lost when we lost the parcel tax.”

According to Oak Park High School Principal Kevin Buchanan, the parcel tax was a tax in place for 13 years for the sole purpose of lowering class sizes and provided the district with $197 per month, per property: a total ranging from $870,000 to $900,000 per year.

“[The Parcel Tax] wasn’t a new tax, the election was asking that it be renewed. And, when the Parcel Tax was not renewed, that was around $800 or $900,000 a year, money that we lost, money that we had been using. As a result, the district had to increase class sizes,” Buchanan said.

Some of the funding gained from the attendance program would go back to the school directly, helping to reduce the impact of the failed parcel tax.

“Funds go to operating our schools — paying teachers and staff, utilities, supplies, books, technology, you name it. We have had to raise class sizes this year with the loss of the parcel tax — this would get us halfway back so we may be able to lower class sizes next year,” Knight wrote.

According to Knight, there are four levels of attendance, each of which provides different amounts of funding. Schools will not only benefit from higher attendance rates through financial incentives, but will also be able to advertise said rates to the community and general public.

“Each school will now post a large banner in public view with the level of attendance for the previous month. The banners are set up as follows: 96 percent: Bronze, 97 percent: Silver, 98 percent: Gold, 99 percent: Platinum. There will be a financial incentive for each school, each month as follows: Silver: $500, Gold: $1000, Platinum: $1500,” Knight wrote.

The goal of this program is to raise OPUSD’s overall attendance rate by one percent in order to ensure additional government funding as well as to provide benefit to students.

“If we were able to improve the attendance rate by one percent, it would bring in approximately $375,000 in annual revenue. More importantly, a one percent improvement means 8,280 more school days of student attendance, more engaged students, and fewer issues for teachers dealing with [make] up work,” Knight wrote in an email to Oak Park parents.

According to Knight, raising the attendance rate by one percent is certainly possible and exceedingly simple.

“We hope that people will be more attentive about coming to school every single day unless they are ill. We know that we have students who are taken out of school for vacations, long weekends, trips to Disneyland, you name it,” Knight wrote.

By increasing the attendance rate by the targeted amount, Oak Park will earn $375,000 per year in government funding. This money will be given to ASB to make improvements on the school.

“For us, well, we’re looking at a number of things. In fact, I just had a meeting with a marquee company to get quotes on marquees or fixing our marquees, or it could go into sports, or it can go into anything. We’ve got a lot of needs and a lot of things that we could spend it on. In terms of what we need most, it really depends,” Buchanan said.

There are many renovations that the money may go towards. Athletics and clubs will both be taken into consideration when deciding the distribution of the funds.

“Maybe at the high school level the funds could be used for something the ASB has been wanting to buy. I think there is always a need for athletic equipment, robotics items, and many other things.  Maybe they will get creative,” Knight wrote.

Another main reason students must continue coming to school when possible is to succeed in the classroom.

“The whole thing is to motivate students to be in school, not if they’re sick, but not to miss school for any reason other than illness. [We want students to understand] the importance of being here so they can do well in school, and not miss any of the main activities and the important things that are going on in instruction. And at the same time help the district to get as much funding as they can, because now we cannot get funds for students who are absent, regardless of the reason,” English department chair Kathy Bowman said.