Don Lugo has developed a new method on monitoring truant students and is testing it for the 2015-2016 school year.

The new re-admit slips are being implemented in order to improve attendance as well as catch students that are ditching class. The previous method was ineffective and slow, due to parents not clearing their students’ absences within the five day period. Optimistic of its trial run, Mrs. Lopez-Gutierrez explains, “If this method turns out to be successful, we would be the model for the other three schools in our district.”

If a student is absent, they go to the attendance office with their student ID card, at either 7:10 in the morning or 8:00 am on a late start, to get their re-admit slip. The re-admit slip would essentially permit students to return to class and show if their absence was excused or not.

As an incentive for the students’ parents to clear their child’s absence on time, a Saturday school would be given to those who did not call within the given time frame. Coaches would clear the absences of student athletes who left for games.

The overall goal of the new system is to minimize the amount of truancies and help the school meet its goal of 97.5% attendance rate.