With a growing chronic absenteeism rate spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beverly Hills Unified School District Board of Education is considering implementing a new software called Attention2Attendance to better analyze and boost attendance across the district, according to a staff report.

“Over the past 10 years, [Attention2Attendance] has identified best practices and designed a system on a continuous improvement model that, when implemented with rigor and consistency across all schools, is proven to improve K-12 student attendance,” the report stated.

On Jan. 17, board members tabled a vote to approve a three-year contract with School Innovations and Achievement, which makes the software, saying they wanted more time to study and discuss the absenteeism issue. The board will revisit the contract during the Jan. 31 meeting, board president Noah Margo said. If approved, the contract would cost $52,700 per year.

“I think that the board has raised some questions about … just getting a better understanding of what our chronic absenteeism is in the school district, and then also sharing what our current process is and how this could help,” Margo said.

According to a copy of the proposed contract, the software would create reports on attendance across the district using national studies and other data, and create recommended interventions for struggling students.