Prevent Holiday Absences with Parent-Teacher Communication

The end of the year is quickly approaching. As families observe school winding down around the holidays, taking a day or two off school before the winter break may not seem like a big deal. 

Although one absence here and there does not seem to make a big impact, absences can add up to months of missed learning time. Here are some tips on how teachers and administrators can encourage attendance this holiday season. 

Communicate Before and After the Holidays 

Messaging and letters from school leaders can encourage good attendance around the winter holidays. When schools carefully note student days off, it’s clear to families when school is in session and how much instruction their child may miss by being absent. Even if there are holiday-themed activities, learning happens every day at school.

It’s a great time of year to express gratitude to everyone who continues to help keep students safe, healthy, connected, and learning. Emphasize the value of daily attendance for well-being, education, and achievement in your communications with families. Send a letter before and after the long winter break urging families and students to avoid absences. Attendance Works offers a sample letter that highlights the tolls that absenteeism takes on achievement in English. 

Plan Engaging Holiday Events  

Connecting with families is a significant part of creating and maintaining a strong school community. There are many ways to engage and involve families within the school community during the holidays. It’s helpful for schools to be mindful of everyone’s schedules and try to plan functions during different times of the day to allow for more involvement. Understanding the wants and needs of the community can help schools serve and tailor the engagement opportunities to meet their time, interests, and demands.   

The Los Angeles Unified School district has successfully implemented some of the following ideas: 

1. Plan an event that will bring families, students, and teachers together—an awards assembly, holiday program, or service opportunity.  
2. Engage students in community action with anything from a food-bank distribution, toy drive, or winter coat closet. Encourage participation by organizing competitions between different grade levels to see who collects the most donations! 
3. Give a recognition award to the classroom with the best attendance before and after the holidays. 
4. Organize an assembly where you recognize students with the best attendance from each grade during the week before and after winter break. 
5. Encourage teachers to create lesson plans in early December that stress the importance of attendance. 
6. Develop a seasonal theme such as:

• Celebrating a Season of Good Attendance
• Giving the Gift of Attendance
• On the First Day of Attendance, My Teacher Gave to Me
• Stuffing our Stockings with Good Attendance
• Good Attendance is Coming to Town 

Get Started with Messaging Tools 

Messaging tools can streamline communicating school schedules and promoting holiday events. By simplifying and automating your communication, you can ensure that families receive timely information to help their children avoid chronic absences and help encourage good attendance for all students.  

With SchoolMessenger’s trusted communication platform now added to PowerSchool, educators are better equipped to increase family engagement and support student success this holiday season. SchoolMessenger provides over 63,000 schools in North America with the tools needed to reach every parent or guardian across voice, text, email, and social media messaging and provides automatic translations for over 100 languages.  

Studies show that text messages also receive a higher rate of response than emails: 45% versus 6%. Despite these statistics, only 50% of schools use text messages to notify parents about their child’s attendance. Text messages offer the convenience of sending and receiving simple messages with devices parents already use, allowing schools and districts to reach more families and communicate faster. Consider tools that instantly deliver critical and time-sensitive school, district, and class communications via text message, email, and voice call. 

Here’s an example text message:

Dear parent, Independence High will be CLOSED on 18 & 19 Dec for the holiday. School will resume on 23 Dec. Regards, Admin office. 

You can also send quick, translated messages reminding families who may not speak English of events and the upcoming holiday schedule. Translating all text messages and emails means language barriers are no longer an issue. Communicating with students and families in their home language builds trust and engagement. A quality online communication solution can instantly translate two-way messages and emails into multiple languages.  

Take the Opportunity to Engage 

With strategic communication, you can turn the holiday season into an opportunity for authentic family engagement. Transform a potentially stressful time into one that’s enjoyable, engaging, and benefits the student by ensuring every day counts toward student success. In doing so, you create a foundation that teachers and parents can build on with productive communication and collaboration.