Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, Springfield Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Sonia Dinnall, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jose Escribano, Joe Philleo, the co-founder and CEO of Edia, School Committee Vice Chairwoman, Latonia Naylor, School Committee Women Barbara Gresham, Rosa Valentin and Ayanna Crawford, and Principal of Central High School, Dr. Tad Tokarz, whose school has successfully piloted this initiative, held a press conference on Tuesday to announce the launch of a new multilingual attendance communication tool.
The new tool is designed to make communication between families and schools faster and easier when a student is absent.
The initiative strengthens Springfield Public Schools’ ongoing focus on attendance while giving families timely information when their child may be not in school as expected.
Mayor Sarno, Superintendent Dinnall, and Dr. Escribano discussed the new tool, how it will work for families and its role in supporting student attendance, family empowerment, community engagement, and addressing any potential barriers or challenges that a student and their family may be facing at this time.
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno stated, “I am very appreciative of Superintendent Dr. Dinnall’s and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jose Escribano’s continued efforts on this important initiative. My line has always been, ‘you need to show up to move up.’ This effort would ‘nip in the bud’ our students being in the wrong place at the wrong time instead of being in school, which would lead to more positive outcomes. This aspect of AI is a positive and useful tool.”
