News Update

Home visits help Stockton Unified reduce absenteeism

Social workers, counselors and other Stockton Unified staff have made more than 3,600 home visits this year, helping the district significantly reduce its rate of chronic absenteeism, the Stockton Record reported.

“You need a backpack, shoes, supplies, anything you need, we make sure we remove as many obstacles as we can,” said Christina Fugazi, vice principal of Edison High School and head of the school’s Child Welfare and Attendance Department. “You come on this huge campus with all these big kids in some cases, it’s easy to get lost or have anxiety or be afraid. … We build those relationships and let them know we want them here and we care about them.”

Before the pandemic, the district’s chronic absenteeism rate was below 20%. But by last year it had surged to 48%. Thanks in part to home visits by caseworkers, the rate has dropped by more than a third, to 34%.

After a student misses three to five days of school, caseworkers start calling and visiting the child’s home to help address whatever is keeping the child from attending school. They’ll arrange bus passes, connect a family with local housing agencies or take other steps to ensure the child can make it to class every day.

Ultimately, it’s about building trusting relationships within the community, said Estela Martinez, a social services case manager at Edison.

“We’re really able to break barriers,” she told the newspaper.