SISD Students Back In School; District Launches Attendance Campaign

Hundreds of little ones and their parents hustled into Horizon Heights Elementary School in Horizon Monday morning for the first day of school.

Bianca Mendez snapped a photo of her four children, ages 9, 8, 6 and 5 smiling in front of the school building. “It’s my son’s first day of school,” she told ABC-7, patting the smallest boy’s head. “He’s going to be in kindergarten.”

Mendez wasn’t the only mother capturing the moment. Parent and SISD Superintendent Dr. Xavier De La Torre posed for his wife, hugging his three children. He then walked his daughter to her kinder class at Horizon Heights.

De La Torre is also hoping to emphasize the importance of student attendance. His goal is to get as many as the 43,000 students in the district into classrooms everyday. It’s part of the campaign, “Make It Count.”

“We want students in school 177 days a year, and teachers in school 177 days a year,” said De La Torre.

The superintendent told ABC-7 the attendance campaign is vital because students and teachers can miss anywhere from 8-10 days of school annually — adding up to 20 days, or a full month, of instruction.

“We don’t have the luxury of missing 20 days of instruction under the new accountability system, so this year it’s about making every day count,” said De La Torre.

Districts get state funding depending on how many students are in class. De La Torre hopes to bring in at least a million dollars with this campaign alone.

“We’re hoping for a 1.5% increase and try and get 2-3 million dollars more revenue,” he said.

Students with the best attendance will be eligible for prizes like bikes or even an iPod. Some parents think it’s a good solution.

“As long as they don’t go overboard and give it to too many kids,” said Jose Chavez, a parent of three at Horizon Heights.

Bianca Mendez thought it provided good incentive, adding, “I think they’ll have higher attendance this year.”

While one student thinks it’ll work for her classmates, Isabel Chavez, 9, said, “I just love school already before that.”

The superintendent believes another key element of the “Make It Count” campaign is the new, district-wide “Breakfast In The Classroom” program, which will provide students on all campuses a meal at their desk first thing in the morning.

Dr. De La Torre said it will help insure the students aren’t hungry and are able to focus on school.