TL;DR:

A change in attendance can point to a place where a student feels unsafe. Establish a process to compare those patterns with what students say, make sure each student has an adult to turn to, and check whether the school’s response helped or if additional follow-up is needed.

Leon starts missing fifth period. At first, it’s just now and then. Eventually, it’s pretty much every day. His homeroom teacher notices the pattern and asks what’s going on. Leon says he’s been spending lunch in the library because classmates keep mocking him in the cafeteria. When the bell rings, he stays where he feels safe. 

For a leader, that story raises a bigger question. How often do attendance concerns point to a specific bus route, cafeteria, hallway, class, or group of students? Individual conversations help one student. Patterns across those conversations can show leaders where supervision and support need more attention.

Why Safety Data Belongs Next to Attendance Data

A 2026 study from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research compared attendance in schools serving similar students. Attendance was higher where students reported feeling safe in and around school, safe from bullying, and connected to peers and adults. That association gives leaders a clear reason to study school climate alongside absence rates. 

A district can put those findings to work by looking at attendance alongside what students say about where and when they feel safe. If students name the bus as a concern, for example, leaders can look at the routes and stops those students use alongside their attendance patterns. That gives Student Services and transportation staff a specific place to investigate.

Find Out Who Students Would Tell

YouthTruth’s recent anti-bullying report found that elementary students were more likely to turn to adults at home than to adults at school after being bullied. For district leaders, the question is first whether students at each school can name an adult they would approach, and second, whether that adult can get help promptly. 

A short, confidential student survey can reveal which grades or schools have the weakest connections. Leaders can ask two separate questions: “Is there an adult at school you would tell if someone were bullying you?” and “What happened the last time you asked an adult for help?” The first measures access to a trusted adult. The second tests whether speaking up led to support. Break out results by grade and student group, with privacy safeguards, to see whose experience calls for attention.

Follow the Concern Through to a Change

Leon’s homeroom teacher has given him a chance to say what lunch has been like. Now she can tell him whom she’ll contact and when she’ll check back. The school needs to keep that promise. 

Staff need a consistent process for passing the concern to the right person and tracking follow-ups. Each district needs to define who takes ownership at the school or district level, how the student and family hear about next steps, and who checks in to find out if the situation has improved. 

Review both measures: Did attendance change, and does the student feel safer? The response may call for different supervision, a bus assignment, or a change to the transition between classes. If several students describe the same location or group of peers, leaders have a larger pattern to address. A consistent districtwide process helps the school act on those accounts and lets students like Leon see what has changed.

Attendance data can show a district where to start asking questions. Student feedback can show where to act. A trusted adult gives a student someone to confide in. Your response determines what happens next.