Laila’s Story

Laila, a dedicated young mother of 3, is active in the PTO at her kindergartener’s school.  She was shocked when a representative from United Way’s Be There school attendance initiative told her parent group about the serious consequences of chronic absenteeism. “I had no idea,” she said. “No one ever told me.”

Laila candidly admitted that she didn’t bring her child to kindergarten some days. “Some mornings it’s really hard to get him ready on time. But I thought he was just finger painting, so it didn’t really matter.  I didn’t know that missing just 2 days a month now could affect his reading ability in 3^rd grade.”

Now Laila’s PTO wants to make sure that other parents get this information. Her group is sending a Be There “Did You Know” form, with simple statistics explaining why attendance is important even for little ones, to all kindergarten parents in the community.

Last year, Be There  held an ice cream sundae party for students at the Woodland Hills School District who successfully met a 30-day attendance challenge.  These students were given special recognition: their names were announced over the school intercom and they were dismissed from class a few minutes early so they could go to the party. When the party was over, each student got a small goodie bag to take home. As one student took her prize bag, she grinned from ear to ear and told one of the volunteers, “I had perfect attendance!” Her friends said, “Me, too! I did, too!” “They’re all so proud,” a waiting parent told us. “I think they really got your message.”