Being Present Matters: Improving Student Attendance Takes a Community

This op-ed originally appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican on October 4.

New Mexico’s latest education results offer a reminder that the work of improving student outcomes is far from finished. While students across the state made modest gains in reading and math, science proficiency declined. In Santa Fe Public Schools, math proficiency increased slightly, while reading and science declined.

These numbers matter. They tell us where students are succeeding and where more work is needed.

But before we can ask students to learn, we have to make sure they can get to school, feel that they belong there and have a reason to keep showing up.

Attendance is one of the four major focus areas for Communities In Schools of New Mexico. It is also the most complex. Along with attendance, we focus on academics, life skills, and basic needs. 

Because we focus on all four areas of students’ lives, we know that getting students to show up for school is rarely as simple as saying, “show up.” 

Sometimes, figuring out why a student is missing school feels like detective work. There may be a transportation problem, a family crisis, housing instability, food insecurity, illness, anxiety, conflict with peers or a student who simply does not feel connected to the adults and students around them. Often, there is more than one reason. And sometimes, the reason has little to do with school at all.

For some of the families we serve, making ends meet is a daily calculation. A family may have to choose between paying rent and repairing the car that gets a parent to work. A utility shutoff notice can create an immediate crisis. A student may outgrow their clothes or shoes and feel uncomfortable coming to school. A family may not have enough food to get through the week.

When those pressures build, school can become one more thing competing for a student’s attention.

We were reminded of that recently during a September 14 site visit to Milagro Middle School, where CISNM leaders joined Santa Fe Public Schools leadership, including Crystal Ybarra, Deputy Chief of the Office of Family and Community Engagement and Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer; Santa Fe Mayor Michael Garcia; Milagro Principal Georgia Baca; and Community School Coordinator Diana Padilla for a conversation about the power of relationships and caring adults.

During that conversation, CISNM Student Success Facilitator Badi Brigolin shared that more middle school students have recently expressed interest in obtaining work permits to help their families manage the rising cost of living in Santa Fe. It is a reminder that the pressures affecting attendance are not always found inside the school building.

Principal Baca described a school community where students know they are accepted as they are—a place where adults can acknowledge the challenges young people bring with them while making sure they also know they are loved and supported. 

That sense of connection is visible throughout Milagro. Teachers stay, the school’s Community School Coordinator clearly loves the work she does, and there is a strong sense of partnership between the school and CISNM Student Success Facilitator Badi Brigolin. The relationships are real, and they matter.

Mayor Michael Garcia called Milagro a “spotlight school,” pointing to the strong demand from students and families who want to attend.

“Together with CISNM, Milagro is on fire,” Principal Baca said.

That kind of energy and connection matters. Students need to know that they are seen, valued and wanted at school. And helping young people stay in school and succeed takes all of us—from schools and families to the city and local nonprofits supporting students and their families. This is one reason supporting attendance requires more than telling students they need to come to school.

At Communities In Schools of New Mexico, our Student Success Facilitators work alongside students, families, schools and community partners to understand what is getting in the way and find solutions.

Last year, CISNM provided nearly $124,000 in emergency assistance to help families address urgent needs, including housing and utility expenses. We work with the Food Depot to provide groceries to families. We help connect students and families with clothing, hygiene supplies, transportation assistance and other resources. During the 2025–26 school year, we provided 122,168 meals.

These things may not look like attendance interventions on paper. But they can be.

When a family is able to keep the lights on, keep their housing stable, put food on the table or repair the car they rely on to get to work and school, a barrier to attendance has been removed.

For students receiving one-on-one case management, our Student Success Facilitators may take a different approach. They may sit down with a student and work through the root causes of their absences. They may collaborate with a school’s attendance team and district attendance coaches, connect with a parent or caregiver, help address transportation challenges or make a home visit after a student has been absent for an extended period.

They set goals and provide support by being that one caring adult who consistently shows up for them. They may also help a student find a reason to want to come to school.

That might mean connecting students with an after-school program, a life-skills group, a community partner or simply a caring adult who knows their name and notices when they are missing. Sometimes, that relationship becomes the most important intervention of all.

At Nava Elementary, CISNM Student Success Facilitator Blanca Ortiz knows that when a student walks into her office asking for a snack, the request is hardly ever only about the snack. Sometimes the student wants someone to talk to. Sometimes they want a fist-bump and a conversation.

Sometimes they simply want someone to notice them, and a caring adult who says, “I’m glad you’re here,” can matter more than we realize.

That is why the first weeks of school matter so much. September is an opportunity to establish routines, build relationships and help students understand that their presence matters before absences become a pattern.

Attendance is not an issue that belongs to one person or one department. It belongs to all of us.

Families play a critical role. Teachers and school staff play a critical role. Community organizations play a critical role. And students themselves deserve to be part of the conversation about what is keeping them from school and what might help them return.

Most importantly, attendance cannot be separated from the rest of a young person’s life.

Family stability affects attendance. Belonging affects attendance. Mental and emotional well-being affect attendance. Transportation affects attendance. Food, clothing and housing affect attendance. Relationships affect attendance.

And attendance, in turn, affects everything that happens in the classroom.

New Mexico is investing significant resources in improving education because we know our students deserve better outcomes. But if we want those investments to translate into learning, we also have to invest in the conditions that allow students to be present and ready to learn.

At Communities In Schools of New Mexico, we say, “Being Present Matters.”

But being present means more than getting a student through the school doors. It means making sure that when they arrive, they know they belong there. Because when a student knows that someone will notice when they’re missing—and be genuinely glad when they return—that is community in action.

Michelle Katz is executive director of Communities In Schools of New Mexico, a nonprofit organization providing integrated student supports to students and families in 13 Title I schools in Santa Fe and one school in Albuquerque.