TL;DR: 

Gloucester County Public Schools in Virginia used to spend so much time producing attendance letters that staff had little time to follow up with families. After standardizing and automating notifications, registrars could review patterns, make calls, and hold conferences. In our October Mission: Attendance webinar, district leader Katina Keener explained what her team can now see across schools, grades, and families—and what they’re still working to understand.

For years, attendance work in Gloucester County Public Schools depended on people manually checking records, pulling reports, finding addresses, and preparing letters. Registrars and front office staff handled that work while answering phones, welcoming visitors, and supporting students. With so many competing responsibilities, preparing and mailing attendance letters could take weeks. And some letters never reached families at all.

In our October Mission: Attendance webinar, Katina Keener, Associate Director of Student Services and Title IX Coordinator, described how her district changed the process by adopting SchoolStatus. With reliable districtwide data and more time for follow-up, staff could investigate patterns and respond sooner.

1. Start by making the routine work consistent

Gloucester began with attendance letters and notifications. Previously, staff manually pulled information from the student information system, checked notes, selected the appropriate letters, and prepared mailings. The process was time-consuming, and notification practices could vary across schools.

With SchoolStatus Attend, the district standardized attendance thresholds and automated required communications to meet Virginia’s notification requirements.

The change also helped Gloucester place greater emphasis on early communication and collaboration with families, rather than relying primarily on attendance waivers, appeals, and the possibility of course failure or retention once absences had accumulated.

2. Give staff time to follow up with families

The automated weekly follow-up list helped registrars recognize students who needed attention and contact their families.

At Abingdon Elementary, one registrar began conducting attendance conferences herself. She knew the families and was willing to make the calls. Data in SchoolStatus attend reported that the school’s chronic absenteeism rate had fallen to 8%, the lowest in the division.

Katina credited the registrar’s initiative and relationships with families as important parts of Abingdon’s progress.

3. Look for differences between schools and grade levels

Consistent districtwide reporting allows Gloucester’s leaders to compare attendance patterns across its schools.

Gloucester’s elementary schools have generally made stronger progress. Katina pointed to teacher involvement, class groupings, and school size as possible contributors. Middle schools involve counselors and a truancy officer, while the high school faces more complicated scheduling and student movement.

The district’s single high school serves roughly 1,500 students. Its four-by-four schedule, early departures, late arrivals, and participation in outside programs make attendance follow-up more complex. Katina is looking at how staff coordinate across grade levels, caseloads, and MTSS meetings.

Katina is using those comparisons to examine staff coordination, caseloads, and the role of MTSS at the high school. 

4. Look for patterns across the school calendar

One report Katina especially values highlights calendar days with higher absence rates. She is watching for patterns around holidays and early dismissal days.

Katina hopes to bring several years of attendance patterns to the school calendar committee, where they can inform discussions about scheduling and family needs.

The heat map gives Gloucester a way to examine which dates consistently present attendance challenges.

5. Ask whether the pattern extends across a family

Katina also looks beyond individual students. If siblings are missing school on the same days, staff may need to ask about a shared barrier such as housing instability, food insecurity, changes in employment, or transportation.

Gloucester has no public transportation, and some families lack reliable ways to get children to school. If several siblings are absent together, that can point toward a different conversation than when only one child is struggling.

Looking at siblings’ attendance together helps staff prepare more useful conversations about the circumstances affecting each family.

What other districts can take from Gloucester

Gloucester is still refining its approach, particularly at the high school level. Katina emphasized the importance of getting the right staff into conversations about attendance and making sure everyone shares responsibility for the data.

Gloucester began by standardizing attendance processes and automating notifications. Staff now review patterns across buildings and time, then use those findings to guide follow-up.

Watch the on-demand Mission: Attendance webinar to hear Katina explain what Gloucester changed, what its data is revealing, and where the district plans to go next.

Watch the on-demand webinar →