Covering 650 square miles of diverse topography from valley flatlands to foothills and mountains, Hemet Unified School District is one of the largest geographic areas of any district in California. Looking closer, “HUSD experiences a high rate of chronic absenteeism as our students and families struggle to meet their everyday needs,” according to Dennis Massey, Interim Director Student Support Services for HUSD. Working within such realities, Massey’s primary goal was to increase daily attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism, and to identify, track, and document interventions as close to real-time as possible. “HUSD was very deliberate and thoughtful on what direction we wanted to take,” says Massey. “RaaWee’s system fit the bill.”

With Purpose Comes Clarity

“Our ‘WHY’ comes from a long and extensive study of who our students are and what challenges they face every day that, to most, are unfathomable,” Massey says. “Hemet has undergone significant demographic change in the last ten years, where we’ve seen the broad and deep effects of poverty seeping into our schools. When parents must choose between buying a gallon of milk to feed their children, or a gallon of gas to drive them to and from school, it is our collective moral imperative, not just as a school district, but as a community as a whole to step in, pitch in, and make a positive impact on those who need it most. Once we understood our ‘WHY’, the ‘WHAT’ and ‘HOW’ became crystal clear.”

What They Do and How They Do It

“RaaWee is as close to real-time data related to attendance and identification of chronic absentees, as you can get. Within a day, we know who is absent — actual name, contact info, barriers that student must overcome, and what has and has not worked in the past—and when we contact the parent we are informed. With the types of intervention systems we had spent years installing, staffing and training, RaaWee Attendance+ was the perfect tool for us to use. To me, RaaWee Attendance+ is a productivity tool for the entire district to utilize in our efforts to bring students back to the class.” And how’s the support? “Super responsive. If we need to tweak the program for our uses, they’ve been available immediately, same day if not same hour we make the call,” Massey says. “It’s been a pleasure working with such a fine group of people who truly care about students.”