LAUSD works to address homelessness among students, curbing chronic absenteeism

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles Unified School District students who do not have a consistent place to live at least now have a new place to study.

The San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission is one of 31 facilities throughout the school district that operates as crisis housing for homeless students and families.

The LAUSD partnered with the shelter, and others, as part of a program dubbed iAttend, an effort to get as many kids off the streets and into housing and classrooms as possible.

On Friday, the district unveiled the first of many Calming Study Areas for students in desperate need of a safe space to do school work.

"In the aftermath of the pandemic, we saw a significant increase in chronic absenteeism. iAttend is our district's initiative to curb chronic absenteeism, to boost attendance. We're seeing it pay off already," said district Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.

From the 2017-18 LAUSD school year to last year, the number of chronically absent students jumped significantly from 12% to 37%, according to data from the California Department of Education.

It's a different picture for students experiencing homelessness. From the 2017-18 school year to last school year, the absentee rate more than doubled.

Because of the success of the iAttend program, Carvalho says the absentee rate for students experiencing homelessness dropped from 66% to 55% between last school year and this year. He credits the success of the program to school administrators hitting the streets, identifying homeless students and providing them and their families with resources like housing and more.

"Hundreds of administrators, hundreds of community entities are knocking on doors of kids who experience homelessness, kids who don't show up for school sufficiently. We're seeing that initiative paying off," he said.

Caren Purujncajas has two kids in LAUSD schools. She and her family are a part of the iAttend program.

When asked where her kids would be if it weren't for the program, she replied: "On the streets."