Every Day Matters in Duncanville ISD: The Tale of 2 Attendance Models

Dr. Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, founder, lead consultant, and Chief Education Officer for Pivot Attendance Solutions, has inspired many administrators, educators, students, and school social workers as a past chair of the school’s concentration Masters Curriculum, tenured professor, and Director of the Bachelors for Social Work Program. Having worked closely with Indiana Department of Education to assist school counselors in acquiring a school counselor license and coordinating curriculum mapping and application, she knows the intricacies of working with school-community partnerships. She has been a forerunner in responding to school absenteeism, truancy, and social bonding. She has over 30 years in youth development, 20 years in dropout and truancy and more specifically she brings over 12 years studying, researching, presenting, and writing about absenteeism locally, nationally, and internationally. In the US she is a leader in absenteeism and understanding school attendance problems and translating such into practice models for implementation. She is forging partnerships in colleges to establish the area as a formal field of study.

Dr. Kim Wallace, professional education consultant with Process Makes Perfect, and author of Leading the Launch, published by Solution Tree in September 2021, outlines a field-tested ten-stage process for successfully vetting and sustaining new initiatives in schools and districts. Dr. Wallace’s book shares a developed structure to regulate programs, protocols, and adoptions districtwide. This process was the result of her career in public education of almost three decades, starting as a high school teacher and instructional coach before moving into site administration. After earning her doctorate from UC Davis in 2012, Kim was promoted to Director of Instructional Technology in Davis, CA and then Assistant Superintendent of Instruction in Fremont, CA. In 2017, she became the superintendent of Fremont Unified—one of the top twenty largest districts in California—where Kim discovered a true passion for creating systems to navigate organizational progress. A deft strategist and expert who has served in four diverse districts, Dr. Wallace believes that her “personal and professional purpose is helping educators (re)claim their power to positively transform our schools and districts from the inside out.”