At Scholarship Prep South Bay in Wilmington, staff greets students three separate times before the first bell even finishes ringing — once at drop-off, again over breakfast, and once more at the classroom door. That layered welcome, paired with a battery of wraparound services for struggling families, has helped the TK-8 charter school post a chronic absenteeism rate of just 1.4%, a fraction of the statewide average.
The school's approach was detailed in a report from Spectrum News, which found that Scholarship Prep South Bay devotes the first 30 minutes of each instructional day to students' social-emotional well-being before academics begin. Staff members are trauma-trained and use the morning check-ins to flag when a student may need extra support, according to the outlet's reporting.
Three Check-Ins Before First Period
The model starts the moment a car door opens. School staff welcome students at drop-off and take note of their emotional state, breakfast staff greet them again during the morning meal, and teachers offer a third welcome at the classroom door, per Spectrum News. Principal Alisson Vann said students often carry issues that campus staff and even their own families are unaware of.
Vann said that when students feel comfortable enough to open up about what they are dealing with, it tends to correlate with them returning to class, improving their grades, and appearing visibly happier. School officials describe the social-emotional model as designed to foster a sense of belonging that encourages kids to keep coming back.
Seventh grader Mason Becerra told the outlet the check-ins help him and his classmates manage anger, sadness, and problems at home, and that he feels welcome and deserving of being at school. His father, Martin Becerra, said his son's anxiety has eased since the school adopted the practice, and that Mason has sought out a counselor, Mr. Castillo, to talk through personal issues.
Food, Hygiene Supplies and Free Transit
Beyond the morning greetings, Scholarship Prep South Bay runs a family resource center stocked for households experiencing homelessness, along with rainbow carts of hygiene items in every classroom offering shampoo, conditioner and laundry detergent. The school also provides weekly food items to families, free breakfast, before- and after-school care, technology and hotspot internet access, and school supplies, according to Spectrum News.
Kristen Crowe, the school's chief community officer, said students cannot learn effectively without food, sleep and clean clothes, and that addressing those barriers is what produces attendance results. Students also have access to on-site health and wellness services, including vision screenings, eye exams and glasses. Families facing transportation barriers can get a GoPass tap card, which under LA Metro's GoPass program provides free, unlimited rides on Metro buses and trains for eligible K-12 students, a benefit extended through September 2027.
The school also leans on protections under the federal McKinney-Vento Act, which requires public schools to immediately enroll unhoused and foster youth without missing records and to guarantee transportation supports to keep them in their school of origin. Scholarship Prep was co-founded in 2015 by former state Senator Gloria Romero and Jason Watts with an explicit mandate to serve underserved students, particularly foster youth and unhoused children, according to Pepperdine's School of Public Policy.
How the Numbers Stack Up
Scholarship Prep South Bay's 1.4% rate lands far below California's statewide chronic absenteeism rate of 19.4% for the 2024-25 school year and the 21.9% rate recorded in the neighboring Los Angeles Unified School District, according to state dashboard data. Under California Education Code Section 60901, a student is legally classified as a chronic absentee if they miss 10% or more of instructional days in a year, regardless of whether those absences are excused.
The state's chronic absenteeism rate peaked at 30.0% during the 2021-22 school year following pandemic disruptions before falling to 24.9%, then 20.4%, then 19.4% over the following years, per Policy Analysis for California Education. LAUSD's numbers followed a similar arc, dropping from a pandemic-era high of 39.8% to 21.9% in 2024-25. Under California Department of Education standards, a rate of 2.5% or less earns a Very Low absenteeism rating on the state dashboard's five-tier scale, placing Scholarship Prep South Bay's 1.4% figure in the state's top performance category.
Nationally, chronic absenteeism doubled during the pandemic to over 28% in 2021-22 and remained elevated at 23.5% in 2023-24, according to American Enterprise Institute data reported by the Los Angeles Times. A 2026 study from UC Davis's School of Education and Attendance Works found nearly 23% of California kindergartners were chronically absent in 2024-25, warning that early absences can severely disrupt foundational literacy and social development — a concern that underscores why Scholarship Prep's check-in model begins as early as transitional kindergarten.
Why It Matters for the Bottom Line
Chronic absenteeism has been linked in studies to academic underachievement, delayed socioemotional development and higher dropout risk. At Scholarship Prep South Bay, officials point to a 20-point increase in math scores last year as evidence the attendance push is paying off academically as well.
The stakes extend beyond test scores. California's school funding formula relies on average daily attendance, meaning schools are financially penalized when students miss class — a dynamic Hoodline has previously examined amid stalled funding reform. That same financial pressure weighs especially heavily on schools serving large numbers of homeless and foster youth, a population Hoodline has reported faces its own funding gaps statewide. For Scholarship Prep South Bay, keeping kids fed, clothed and emotionally supported has become inseparable from keeping the school financially afloat.
