This September, the San Antonio Municipal Court will recognize Attendance Awareness Month. This campaign is designed to help educate families on the benefits that come from students having good attendance.  

A press conference was held at Pre-K 4 SA West Education Center on Tuesday, September 5 where South San Antonio ISD (SSAISD) along with other public school districts gathered together to hear from official leaders, such as District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, CEO of Pre-K 4 SA Dr. Sarah Baray and many more, on how important the Attendance Matters campaign is for San Antonio. 

Officials also encouraged every school district to create goals and incentives to boost attendance throughout their campuses.

South San Antonio ISD is excited to participate in this campaign and encourage all students and their families that attendance matters. Each SSAISD school is currently hosting a "Battle of the Grades", which began August 30 and will end September 29, where students must attend school each day to be eligible to compete. Each campus will be awarding different incentives to the winning grade level and the grade level with the highest attendance percentage wins the “Battle of the Grades” for their campus.

Dr. Sarah Baray shared that the science and research coming out of the Center for the Developing Young Child at Harvard University tells us that the brains of young children are developing a million neural-connections every second, which means not only does every day matter, but every second matters.

“A student’s attendance can benefit them academically, emotionally, and enhance better school and career opportunities,” Baray stated. “This program will open the gateway to highlight other resources that are available to families as well to help overcome the obstacles that they may be facing.”

District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez spoke not only as a councilman, but as a public school district teacher, about how he recognizes when a student is struggling or distracted in his classroom and takes this knowledge to intervene and provide the support needed.

“The real challenge is that everything happens outside of the classroom,” stated McKee-Rodriguez. “The attendance matters campaign has been placed into effect to reaffirm our commitment to address the many mental health care resources, community services, violence interruption programs, housing, transportation and so much more that can remove barriers and ensure that our students and their families are assisted.”

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg was also in attendance to show his support for this citywide attendance awareness initiative.

“We don’t want to blame anyone for the fact that a child did not show up to school but figure out how we can remove these hurdles,” Nirenberg said. “Together as a community we can create a culture for students to attend school and reach their full potential as they seize opportunities that will guide them to a successful future."