{"id":66418,"date":"2025-11-23T11:20:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T11:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/66418\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T11:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T11:20:08","slug":"how-one-california-school-district-tackled-chronic-absenteeism-suspensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/66418\/","title":{"rendered":"How one California school district tackled chronic absenteeism, suspensions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Livingston Union School District improved chronic absenteeism, suspensions and student well-being by investing in school counselors, according to a new study<\/a> by the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools.<\/p>\n

The study examines how Livingston Union, a small, five-campus K-8 school district in Merced County, implemented comprehensive school counseling \u2014 a system of integrated academic and mental health support for students and families \u2014 to outpace California on key metrics of post-pandemic recovery.<\/p>\n

Livingston Union lowered chronic absenteeism from a post-pandemic peak of 18.3% in 2023 to 14.2% in spring 2024, exceeding a goal of reducing chronic absenteeism by 3% by the end of the school year, according to the study. In 2024, California reported a chronic absenteeism rate of about 20% statewide.<\/p>\n

LUSD also lowered suspension rates from 3.4% to 2.8% between 2022 and 2023. In the same time frame, California\u2019s suspension rates jumped from 3.1% to 3.5% between 2022 and 2023. The district\u2019s suspension rate for students with disabilities also decreased by 5.5% between 2011-2012 and 2018-2019, while schools across Merced County saw an increase in suspensions.<\/p>\n

Alma Lopez, lead school counselor at Livingston Union, said that school counselors run regular \u201cstudent information reports\u201d and meet with students who are earning multiple Fs in certain subjects, struggling to make it to school, or have received multiple office referrals for detention or suspensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at the data to identify the students initially, and then digging a little deeper to try and find what\u2019s the root cause of the challenge they\u2019re having,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cAnd then looking at what could be an intervention for that student in a particular situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A student struggling to complete assignments, for example, could be encouraged to join a six- to eight-week group intervention on motivation and growth, while another might join a tutoring group focused on study skills. A student struggling with chronic absences could receive help with transportation, while another could sign up for sessions with a medical or mental health provider to address health issues.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Alma Lopez, lead school counselor, helps display college banners at Livingston Middle School.<\/p>\n

(Geneva Sum \/ EdSource)<\/p>\n

The study also found that school counseling generally improved student belonging, safety and well-being at Livingston Union. In the 2019\u20132020 school year, about 8 in 10 students demonstrated high academic motivation and felt well-supported in social-emotional learning, while 2 in 10 reported frequent sadness, which remained about the same for the next two school years.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Alvarez, a parent of a seventh-grade student at Livingston Middle School, reached out to a school counselor after her daughter started experiencing anxiety and stomach aches during her transition from elementary school to middle school. Alvarez said her daughter already knew she could go to her counselor for help because she had interacted with her counselor during campus activities at lunch and in the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my daughter met with her, and she came home and showed us all these things that the counselor had given her \u2014 all these strategies, games and handouts about coping skills \u2014 and then the counselor touching base with us, it was easy for us to gain that trust,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cIt\u2019s been three years, and my daughter still has all of those handouts, some on the fridge, some in her bedroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students who have continuous support from a trusted counselor report better academic and mental health outcomes, according to EdResearch for Action.<\/a> For Bishop, the author of the UCLA study, Livingston Union\u2019s progress reflects that same principle on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat strikes me about Livingston is their leadership stability,\u201d said Bishop. \u201cIn other case studies, there\u2019s a lot of turnover. The work [Livingston Union] is doing speaks to the idea that you need leaders to stick around for good things to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike most schools in California, Livingston Union counselors meet with every student and their family in fourth and seventh grades to discuss any academic and personal challenges. They also teach lessons in career guidance or social-emotional learning, provide one-on-one counseling for students, and connect parents to resources like food banks, grief counselors and legal assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we have these long-lasting relationships allows us to work closely with our families, because they know us and they trust us,\u201d said Lopez, who has been a counselor at Livingston Union for 20 years. \u201cWhen a family leaves my room, and they say, \u2018When are we going to see you again?\u2019 they\u2019re seeing value in that intentional time dedicated to each student and their family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alvarez, who grew up on a farm in rural Merced County and attended Livingston High School, said she struggled to navigate her own journey as a first-generation college student without any guidance at school. In an agricultural county where many parents work 12- to 16-hour shifts a day, Alvarez said Livingston Unified\u2019s counselors fill a critical role in helping guide a student\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

During the surge in mental health requests at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, LUSD also made a strong pivot to remote counseling, classroom lessons and opportunities for social interaction through virtual recess and game nights, Lopez said. They also provided support for children who lost crucial social-emotional development skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing new dynamics with behaviors and adjustments to learning,\u201d said LUSD Supt. Andr\u00e9s Zamora in the study. \u201cTo this day, we live some of that, and our counselors are taking the lead on how we support learning and are being very influential in how that affects classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many students, early and reliable intervention during the pandemic made a lasting difference. Lopez recalled when a mother reached out for help after her son had lost his father and three other family members during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I met him, he was in a fetal position with a blanket wrapped around him, just really hurting. And each time that I would meet with him virtually, I would see a little bit more of him in his space, sitting up, holding his baby sister, starting to open up,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n

After schools reopened, Lopez said that the student walked into her counseling office and asked to continue talking about his grief.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact in his attendance, grades and learning how to advocate for what he felt he needed was pretty remarkable to see,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n

Vani Sanganeria is a reporter for EdSource,<\/a> a nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism organization covering education in California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Livingston Union School District improved chronic absenteeism, suspensions and student well-being by investing in school counselors, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[39539,7,9,8,18895,3984,9342,39540,1431,39537,39542,39541,7087,33945,37405,4574,39538],"class_list":["post-66418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-alma-lopez","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-chronic-absenteeism","tag-covid-19-pandemic","tag-daughter","tag-elizabeth-alvarez","tag-family","tag-livingston-union","tag-mental-health-support","tag-new-study","tag-parent","tag-school-counselor","tag-school-year","tag-student","tag-suspension"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}