Tough Stand on Attendance Pays Off at South Gate High : Education: Absences are carefully examined, parents often called. Policy helps bring academic improvement.

At 7 a.m. sharp every school day, South Gate High School Assistant Principal James Alther cranks up a finely oiled machine that produces a rare product in Los Angeles public schools: thousands of teen-agers who come to school nearly every day, hundreds who possess perfect attendance records.

In one corner of the cafeteria, where Alther sets up shop, two counselors armed with computerized student rosters check in the returning sick, the ditchers, the I-had-a-doctor’s-appointment absences. Another teacher stands poised to deal with those who dared to come back without a valid excuse. A clerk operates a time punch to record the exact hour of return.

And Alther--a man known not to mince words--commands center stage, delivering the same firm message to each student:

“You need to be here every day,” he says over and over. “Every day is important.”

South Gate High School, an overcrowded campus where most students are poor and many do not speak fluent English, has distinguished itself with a near-perfect attendance rate, the highest of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s 49 high schools for two years straight.

Districtwide, high schools had an attendance rate of 83% last year, which meant that students on average missed about 31 days of class. On any given day at South Gate, 96% of the school’s nearly 4,000 students are in their seats.

With 3% out for bona fide reasons such as illness or funerals, only 1% of South Gate students miss school without a valid excuse.

At South Gate, keeping students in class every day has become a focal point of campus administration and has been credited with helping propel a once-troubled school to refreshing measures of success.

The number of South Gate students who are demoted because of academic failure has dropped to 7% from 13% four years ago, school records show. The school’s 7% dropout rate is the second lowest in the district and less than half the district average of 16%--an improvement attributed to both the push to increase daily attendance and a dropout prevention program.

Academic achievement is also on the rise. The percentage of South Gate seniors who moved on to four-year colleges and universities last fall stands at 29%--nine points above the district average. The campus has one of the most improved college attendance rates in the district, rising about 10% over the past five years.

Although the school’s average score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, an influential barometer of achievement, still lags far behind the national average, the number of South Gate students who take the college entrance exam has nearly doubled over the last five years.

South Gate’s victories are attracting attention at a time when reform-minded educators are grasping for solutions to raise student achievement. It stands as an example that positive change at urban schools does not happen overnight but requires focused and complete support from the principal to the parents--and that such change can transform fundamental attitudes in youth.

“I realize now that all the days you miss catch up with you--you fall behind, you fail. So you’re only hurting yourself,” said Jessica Gonzales, 17, a senior scrambling to complete graduation requirements because of her high absenteeism.

“Everyone knows that people care if you are not in class. Even though they are strict here, it really does help. I know I couldn’t miss work and still keep my job.”

Boosting attendance also produces revenue for the cash-starved school district. Under state laws, districts are paid according to the number of students who come to class or have excused absences. Last year, the district lost $74.3 million because of unexcused absences.

South Gate High has managed the turnaround with no additional resources, even as it has suffered the same stinging staff and education program cutbacks over the past four years as the district’s other high schools.

It started with Principal Frank Moreno, a former attendance counselor who embraces a simple credo: “Missing one day of school is a great loss,” he says.

Four years ago, when the school’s attendance rate was hovering around 85%, Moreno directed Alther to make the attendance program his main responsibility. No financial planning, athletic oversight or facility maintenance duties for this assistant principal.

Alther devised a no-nonsense policy, high on expectations and low on tolerance for scofflaws because “we don’t do them any favors if we let them slide,” he said.

Every year, parents and students must sign a document that lists acceptable and unacceptable reasons for absences from the school, which draws from the poor and working class communities of South Gate and surrounding areas and is 98% Latino. Students attend an assembly where Moreno hammers in the rules. Homeroom teachers frequently review them with students.

Senior privileges are tied to attendance: Eight absences, no football games, no prom, no grad night.

Alther also gives little leeway for sniffles, coughs and colds, a policy that riles many students, some of whom complain that they are forced to come to school sick out of fear of losing privileges.

“You are sick if you can’t get out of bed,” Alther said. “Short of that, come to school. Better to have high expectations. . . . Haven’t you ever gone to work sick?”

Students with more than three absences must meet with Alther to hear his stern warning. “This is it. You can’t have anymore absences,” Alther told one senior girl on a recent morning. “After this we are going to take your privileges.”

“I got sick, OK?” she said sniffling, white tissue in hand.

“OK. . . ,” he said tentatively, “But it’s the week before finals, you can’t be missing school.”

By 11 a.m. each day, two school clerks make phones calls to the parent of every absent student. And while mom or dad is on the line, they review the student’s latest grades.

When students with shaky attendance records return to school, they face an immediate telephone parent conference.

“Your daughter was absent yesterday, did you know that?” clerk Leticia Gonzalez said to one mother recently.

Long pause. The 17-year-old girl stood by, nervously shaking her leg.

“She’s missed 12 days total and is failing three classes, did you know that?”

Longer pause. Then the mother explained that her daughter had tonsillitis and she could not get her to the doctor. The clerk said that if the mother could not obtain medical care for the girl on her own, the student could see the school nurse immediately. Tonsillitis would not keep this girl out for extended days again, the clerk said victoriously.

“It’s amazing how cooperative parents can be,” Gonzalez said. “Once they know what is happening and understand what they can do, most are glad we are concerned and on top of things.”

The student rolled her eyes. “They don’t let you get away with anything here,” she muttered as she turned to leave.

When phone calls fail to bring improvement, Alther calls parents in for a meeting.

This morning, he reprimanded a mother for scheduling a family Christmas vacation to Mexico during finals.

“I can’t say this is OK to do. We want your daughter here to take finals,” Alther said through Gonzalez, who translated into Spanish.

The mother explained that she had prepaid plane tickets and a family first Communion party to attend there. Alther countered that the school calendar is handed out early in the year to avoid such conflicts. The absence, he said, will be unexcused and the girl will be in danger of losing senior privileges.

Three days later, the teen-ager reported to class to take her finals. Somehow the vacation had been rescheduled.

Four hundred of South Gate’s students achieved perfect attendance last year. Their reward was a tiny pin, seeing their names posted on a bulletin board and heaps of praise from teachers.

But the pride among most students is mammoth.

“We have a reputation here to keep up,” Jessica said. “You know that saying? ‘Better late than never, but better never late.’ ”