The Appleton Area School District strives for success for every student every day, and attendance at school is an important first step toward success. We are continuing our efforts to improve student attendance, and starting next school year will have an active group of school staff, students, parents/guardians, and community members collaborating on this important work.  Parents/guardians are critical partners in addressing concerns and barriers related to student attendance, and parent/guardian input and involvement in this group is a priority.

Our goal is to bring together school, District, and community partners to collaboratively support student engagement through positive attendance practices. Improving attendance is a shared responsibility. Many of the factors influencing a student’s ability to attend school regularly extend beyond the school and family, requiring a coordinated and sustained community effort.

During our time together, participants will engage in the following:

• Review current attendance data
• Evaluate existing attendance practices, including identifying what is effective and where improvements are needed
• Identify ongoing barriers to regular school attendance
• Collaborate to brainstorm and problem-solve strategies to address attendance barriers
• Share diverse perspectives to inform comprehensive and effective approaches to reducing absenteeism

Meetings will be held on the last Wednesday of each month from 4:00–6:00 PM, beginning in September, at the Appleton Area School District Welcome Center (2701 N. Oneida Street, Appleton). There will not be any required work for participants outside of these meeting times.

Please only apply if you can feasibly attend most meetings.

• September 30, 2026
• October 28, 2026
• December 2, 2026
• January 13, 2027
• February 24, 2027
• March 24, 2027
• April 21, 2027

We are seeking

• parent of an AASD 4K – Grade 5 student (2 openings)
• parent of an AASD Grade 6 – 8 student (2 openings)
• parent of an AASD Grade 9 – 12 student (2 openings)
• non-parent community member (must be a resident of the AASD) (4 openings)

If you are interested in participating in this work group, please complete this form by June 26, 2026.  

If there are more applications than positions available, a lottery will take place on Monday, June 29th, 2026. If no applications are received before the deadline, we will advertise again on the AASD website.

Please note that this is not a committee of the Board of Education; therefore, the meetings are not open sessions nor are they posted. 

If you have any questions, please contact 

Laura Jackson, 
Executive Director of Student Services
jacksonlaura@aasd.k12.wi.us
920-852-5317 ext. 60241