On Jan. 10, Attendance Coordinator and Integrated Math 1 teacher David Cobian and Attendance Technician and former secretary Mayra Valenzuela were installed into the newly open positions at Bonita Vista High (BVH), replacing the former Attendance Coordinator Antonio Gutierrez. Gutierrez was promoted to manager of all Career and Technical Education programs–which teaches students job skills such as public speaking, interviewing and working collaboratively–in the Sweetwater Union High School District, thus requiring Cobian and Valenzuela to fill in his role at BVH.

Cobian is a former Sweetwater High School teacher, who taught for 20 years before transferring to BVH. Although he mentions that he never considered a position in the front office Cobian took up the role of attendance coordinator at BVH to fulfill his ambition for the position and to improve his leadership skills.

“I wanted to become an attendance coordinator for the reason that I wanted to start working on my leadership skills and qualities,” Cobian said. “I was a math and engineering teacher, I coached tennis and I was also a robotics coach. I’ve done many different things on the campus except front office work.”

Furthermore, Valenzuela is BVH’s former secretary, who is now the attendance technician. She wanted to ensure that the attendance technician position was filled in to take the extra responsibilities off of Cobian’s shoulder.

“There was a position open to be an AP [assistant principal] secretary, so I applied for that and I was helping out in the main office. Unfortunately, our attendance technician got a different position, so I requested [for the open attendance technician position]. Attendance is so important that I said, ‘we need someone’. Otherwise, it would have just been on him [Cobian],” Valenzuela said. “They gave me the opportunity to fill in the position and I applied for it.”

In a combined effort, the new attendance coordinator and attendance technician focus on managing BVH students’ attendance. BVH Principal Lee Romero believes that although school is integral for students, absences and tardies are recurring issues and are difficult to combat.

“There are a lot of students that come in late and the job is very difficult because you have to deal with students who are misguided, not doing the right thing, and try to encourage them to be on time and go to school every day,” Romero said. “You [also] have to deal with parents who challenge the school’s rules and regulations on sending their kids to school on time every day.”

Romero and Valenzeuela emphasize the importance for students to attend school since attendance is what provides BVH with the majority of the school’s funding from the state. This fund is called the Average Daily Attendance Fund (ADA) and the school uses this money to improve facilities or to pay for equipment. The ADA is based on a per-student basis, meaning each student that is marked present will provide BVH with additional funding.

“The financial reason is that the school collects aid called ADA. On a regular basis, if students are habitually absent, our funding could go down,” Romero said. 

Similarly to Romero, Cobian believes that attendance is significant in terms of a student’s high school experience. For example, poor attendance and tardies can lead to students missing out on school events. 

“I think attendance is valuable in all circumstances, not only in academics but also outside of it,” Cobian said. “When you’re absent, contact the attendance office and let us know why you’re absent. This is to prevent you from being on the choices list and so that you can participate in school events, sports and senior activities.”

Both positions of attendance coordinator and attendance technician are designated to assist students and parents with attendance issues and concerns. The attendance coordinator is more inclined towards figuring out the ‘why’ behind an absence or tardy and helping clearing them. Moreover, the attendance coordinator has a responsibility to plan and host Saturday schools for students to clear unexcused absences and tardies. 

“My role is to make sure that our students show up to school on time. If they don’t, I want to know the reason why by contacting the household and hopefully, there’s a reason so that we can clear students,” Cobian said. “I make sure that the students have their independent contracts on file so that when they’re out for a good amount of time, we’re following the Student Handbook and the district guidelines, while also hosting Saturday schools.”

On the other hand, attendance technicians focus on keeping track of students’ attendances and making sure that they are inputted into the system. They also check if a parent has excused a student  from school for various reasons like catching a cold, going to a doctor’s appointment and more.

“My role is to make sure if there are students out sick, everything is inputted in the system. I cross reference if a parent comes in and they say, ‘Hey, I want to take out this child,’ then we have to make sure that they’re on the emergency list,” Valenzuela said. 

Both Cobian and Valenzuela work hand in hand, with the attendance coordinator covering the work the attendance technician is unable to complete. They both find that their partnership is successful.

“We’re doing really well. He’s teaching me a lot. We try to [collaborate] together. We say we’re [both] attendance [coordinators] and we make sure we do our to-do lists and create lists together,” Valenzuela said. “He’s learning a lot from my secretarial skills because he said that he’s not good with paperwork and stamping. I feel like our two differences complement us and we support each other.”

Moreover, Valenzuela and Cobian are at BVH to assist students with attendance related issues, concerns and questions. Valenzuela states that her job is more than just managing attendance; she is more than willing to help students with any problems they have, even if it is not related to attendance.

“If any student ever has a problem or anything like that, I’m here. Students are more than welcome to come into my office, regardless if it’s not about attendance and especially if you need something in particular. I’m always an open door regardless of what my position is,” Valenzuela said.