Tucson Unified School District's chronic absenteeism hits 44%. A new program aims to address this

The latest state report cards show chronic absenteeism in the Tucson Unified School District has reached 44%, the highest since 2021.

Chronic absence is defined as missing 10% or more of the school year. In Arizona, that’s about 18 days of class.

At a back-to-school media briefing on Tuesday, Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo said the district has a plan to address the issue.

"[The plan] is going to move us, in 37 schools, to more of a personalized case management approach," Trujillo said, "where we are interacting with our parents personally as opposed to letters and phone calls, doing home visits, going into the home, seeing what the circumstances are that are preventing parents from getting their kids to school."

Trujillo said 61% of absences in grades first through eighth are excused by parents.

“We have to do a better job really informing and empowering our parents and informing them just how important it is to have kids in school," Trujillo said. "Those long vacations after the Christmas break and the extra two days after Memorial Day or before Memorial Day really does add up."

He acknowledged that 37 school representatives will not be able to do the engagement necessary to reach every single student, but the district will use the pilot to see if the new approach changes outcomes.

"Does it reverse trends? Does it increase the amount of students who no longer miss any school after being caught at 10 days?" Trujillo said. "So, whether a school has 100, 200, or 500, we're looking at the outcomes to be able to determine if we want to invest the money in expanding."