Attendance Is a Community Issue: Building Schools Where Families Want to Belong

When schools talk about attendance, the conversation can quickly become centered on numbers: days absent, students chronically absent, or percentages that need to improve. But educator and community organizer Jekeia Murphy offers a different starting point. Attendance may be an issue for schools, but solving it requires understanding the relationships, experiences, and communities surrounding students.

Murphy brings a unique perspective to the conversation. Her experience spans teaching, school leadership, parenting, community organizing, and service with youth-focused organizations. Across those roles, she has learned that getting students to school is rarely as simple as telling families that attendance matters.

Her own understanding began to shift when her daughter entered kindergarten. Murphy saw firsthand how much her child was learning and became determined to get her to school prepared and on time. But she also began noticing other families who needed support. Her response was not judgment. It was practical: Do you need a carpool? How can I help? That experience illustrated something schools sometimes overlook—the families closest to a challenge may also be uniquely positioned to help one another solve it.

That same mindset followed Murphy into school leadership.

She recalls one kindergarten student whose mother had done seemingly everything “right.” She visited the school before the year began, talked with the principal, prepared her child for kindergarten, and prioritized his education. Yet every morning, her child experienced intense difficulty separating from his family.

Instead of labeling the family as disengaged, Murphy and her team changed their approach. They met the child at the car and eventually discovered his interest in plants. Murphy began bringing him to the school garden before entering the building. That small adjustment created a new routine and connection that helped him transition successfully into school.

The lesson is significant: the same attendance intervention will not work for every student. Transportation, alarm clocks, and other logistical barriers matter, but Murphy reminds educators that emotional barriers and school aversion matter too. Addressing them requires flexibility, persistence, and empathy.

Community partnerships are another important part of the equation. Murphy challenges schools to move beyond transactional relationships in which organizations simply drop off backpacks, supplies, or donations. Effective partnerships begin by understanding what community members are good at, what motivates them, and how their strengths align with what students and families actually need.

Families belong in that equation as well. Murphy argues that families are more likely to engage when they understand that they bring something valuable to the school community. Schools can intentionally connect parents with one another, create welcoming spaces for them, and make room for the informal networks of support that families naturally build.

Ultimately, improving attendance may require schools to ask a different question. Instead of only asking, “Why aren’t they coming?” educators might also ask, “What can we build together that makes students and families want to be here?”

That shift moves attendance from compliance to community—and reminds us that sometimes the most powerful attendance strategy is creating a place where people know they belong.