Increased student attendance is benefiting teachers and pupils of the Lucerne Valley Unified School District.
“Average Daily Attendance” at Lucerne Valley Unified School District increased by 1.78% during the first part of the 2024-25 school year, according to Superintendent Peter Livingston.
The increase equates to greater in-school success for students and a salary increase for teachers, he added.
Increased student attendance is benefiting teachers and pupils of the Lucerne Valley Unified School District.
“If our students are at school they have more time with our incredible teachers and all our support staff,” said Livingston about the jump in attendance.
He added that with the COVID-19 pandemic in the rearview mirror, “We need to get the narrative back to, ‘You need to be at school.’”
The student increase also gives the district’s staff members a reason to smile.
According to last year’s agreement between the Lucerne Valley Teachers Association, members of California School Employees Association Chapter 743 and the district, all employees on Jan. 17 will receive an additional 1% increase ongoing and retroactively to July 1, 2024, Livingston said.
Increased student attendance is benefiting teachers and pupils of the Lucerne Valley Unified School District.
“We agreed with our bargaining units to increase salaries based upon increase in ADA after the increases we already settled on for this year,” Mr. Livingston said. “If we (the school district) get the funding, they get the funding. We are already settled, but all of our people will be getting an additional increase in salary retroactively and ongoing due to their incredible focus on getting kids to school and helping them learn.”
If Lucerne Valley Unified School District’s average daily attendance continues to climb, employees will continue to benefit financially, according to the district.
The district will be looking at the average daily attendance data again in mid-March, which will reflect the second Principal Apportionment (P-2) with the California Department of Education for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
“If we hit a 3% total increase of ADA at that point we will honor the 2 percent increase retroactively and ongoing (one additional percent),” the superintendent said.
Besides a general push to increase average daily attendance, Livingston credits a recent state rule change that allows districts to recover more “ADA funding” for students in independent study.
“I fully believe we can hit the 3 percent increase of ADA by P-2 with everyone on board with the recoup of Independent Study days,” Livingston said
Livingston expressed gratitude for all who have helped increase ADA — students, teachers, our families and community, and other staff members.
“With our entire district and community on board, we are showing results,” Livingston said. “I’m so proud of the LVUSD.”
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Student attendance up at Lucerne Valley Unified School District