Tom Simpson and Cheryl Sanfilip have each held a lot of positions at Peoria Public Schools.
Simpson was a special ed administrator, principal of Charter Oak and director of special ed. Sanfilip was a teacher, principal and assistant superintendent. Both started their time in the district as students. Now retired, they work as volunteers to help improve attendance.
Simpson said they first started volunteering because attendance impacts the amount of money schools get from the state. They volunteered with a couple different districts before coming back to District 150 to improve chronic absentee rates.
“We became very aware of the fact that attendance is a big factor in achievement,” Simpson said. “I mean, if kids aren't in school, they're not learning.”
District 150’s chronic absentee rate was 39.4% during the 2023-24 school year, compared with the state average of 26.3%. That's according to the latest State Report Card.
While that's higher, it is a slight improvement from the previous year. Chronic absenteeism spiked following the pandemic in 2021. Then, the rate at District 150 was at 43.4%.
Simpson and Sanfilip said they meet with district administrators and school principals to share research and strategies to improve attendance. Simpson said students are categorized into three levels: universal, targeted and extensive. Universal kids are those that miss up to seven days a year.
Sanfilip said universal strategies are meant to be preventative.
“Welcoming students when they come into school, letting them know that you're really happy to see them,” she said. “You're glad that they're part of your classroom, part of the school. Having celebrations, that's part of the school culture. The whole idea of the universal level is to embed strategies for all kids into your school culture.”
Sanfilip said this led to the creation of the community walk, where families, teachers, administrators and other school employees visit homes before the school year begins.
This often is used for the targeted level, who are students who miss seven to 17 days a year.
“Usually, they target homes where there may have been attendance problems the past year, and or homes that have had attendance problems and the attendance has improved so greatly that they want to make sure those kids stay on track to continue to have great attendance,” Sanfilip said.
The extensive level is for kids who are chronically absent, meaning they've missed 18 or more days during the school year. That averages to at least two days a month.
Extensive level strategies include home visits, typically by the school principal. Simpson said the goal is to find the root cause of the student's absences.
“So, part of dealing with parents is trying to find out what those things are that's blocking them from coming to school so that we can help provide,” he said. “Like if it’s clothing, the Educational Foundation has clothing that they can provide. There are a lot of things that schools can do if they know what the barriers are.”
Common issues are illness, transportation and food insecurity.
Simpson said they keep track of where students are so principals know what interventions a student needs and when to visit a home.
“It's all about relationships,” he said. “If a child or student does not have good relationships with school, at school with somebody, a teacher, principal. Those are the things that get kids to school.”
Simpson and Sanfilip said all the strategies they recommend are based on data and research. They collect data three to five times a month and meet to look over it and identify trends.
They also go over research articles and discuss strategies for individual schools. They have a monthly meeting with principals to discuss the strategies that are working, ones that aren't and new things to try. They also have one-on-ones with principals whose schools may be dealing with higher chronic absenteeism or facing other unique issues.
Sanfilip said volunteering with the district after retiring was a no brainer.
“Well, we had great careers,” she said. “I mean, we spent our entire careers in Peoria Public Schools. We didn't go to any other school districts, and we both came up through the ranks there, and we were given many opportunities, and we went there as students. So what better place to give back.”
