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Leydi Luna (left) speaks with LAUSD superintendent Alberto Carvalho while Yordi Luna, 15, a student at Garfield High School, listens.
Leydi Luna (left) speaks with LAUSD superintendent Alberto Carvalho while Yordi Luna, 15, a student at Garfield High School, listens.
Photo by Monica Rodriguez
Boyle Heights -- Fifteen-year-old Yordi Luna had not been very enthusiastic about school. In fact, his mom, using a security camera, saw that Yordi was often at home, not at school.
“I felt like I really didn’t need it,” said the Garfield High sophomore. “I just felt like I had better things to do.”
On Friday, Yordi was one of the chronically absent students who received a visit from L.A. Unified Supt. Alberto Carvalho. Carvalho delivered a pep talk and free laptop at Yordi’s Boyle Heights home, all to encourage him to come to class.
“You have all the support we can muster,” Carvalho said of the district staff.
The Carvalho visit to the Luna home was one of five he made Friday as part of LAUSD’s iAttend campaign. Shadowed by reporters, Carvalho and more than 600 volunteers knocked on the doors and phoned the families of chronically absent students who missed 14 or more school days during the last academic year.
Before, district officials waited until about three weeks after the start of school to visit families. This will now happen earlier and more frequently during the school year, said Carvalho.
About 50% of the district’s students don’t attend school regularly, and 40% are considered chronically absent, he said.
Absenteeism undermines a student’s academic performance and hurts financially since attendance determines how much state funding school districts receive.
During his visit to the Luna residence, Carvalho spoke with Yordi about music and his interest in playing football. He said he will be watching Yordi’s progress.
“I’m going to look you up when I visit Garfield,” Carvalho said.
The teen’s mother, Leydi Luna, is a single mother of two boys. She contacted Sonia Thong, an attendance counselor at Garfield, about her eldest son’s absenteeism. Thong developed a rapport with the teen, and together the three have changed Yordi’s school attendance, Luna said.
Things are different now. Yordi said he’s ready for the start of school today, particularly his geometry and chemistry classes.
After Carvalho left, Yordi said the visit showed that the superintendent and others were interested in him.
“It tells me they want to see me succeed,” he said. “My success is in their best interest.”
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Monica Rodriguez is a freelance writer. She has more than two decades of experience in daily journalism working for news publications in Pennsylvania and California. She is a product of Boyle Heights and continues to call the community home.
When I started in Granada Hills High School in 10th grade in 1967 I lived with just my dad. I filled out and turned in all the school paperwork and signed my version of my dad’s signature on everything. Towards the end of 11th grade I got called into the office one day and my dad was there going through the 118 absence notes he had not signed. I got detention but decided that that must be optional because even when they had a football player security guy student from Valley State College escort me from my last class, if I was there of course, I could just get up and walk out when he left or run from him on the way and jump a fence. They only had linemen from the college for security and they were slow and could not hop an 8’ fence in a single motion. I was offered a full scholarship from Disney to go to Cal Arts that year but my father threatened me and I declined. Then a month into 12th grade he threw me out and I finished high school homeless living in the bushes. He told me before he died that the reason he treated me so poorly was that he thought I was my mom’s favorite. So I quit taking care of him and my brother and sister put him into a home and they tied him to his bed for 2 months until he died and I assume did not go to Heaven.
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When I started in Granada Hills High School in 10th grade in 1967 I lived with just my dad. I filled out and turned in all the school paperwork and signed my version of my dad’s signature on everything. Towards the end of 11th grade I got called into the office one day and my dad was there going through the 118 absence notes he had not signed. I got detention but decided that that must be optional because even when they had a football player security guy student from Valley State College escort me from my last class, if I was there of course, I could just get up and walk out when he left or run from him on the way and jump a fence. They only had linemen from the college for security and they were slow and could not hop an 8’ fence in a single motion. I was offered a full scholarship from Disney to go to Cal Arts that year but my father threatened me and I declined. Then a month into 12th grade he threw me out and I finished high school homeless living in the bushes. He told me before he died that the reason he treated me so poorly was that he thought I was my mom’s favorite. So I quit taking care of him and my brother and sister put him into a home and they tied him to his bed for 2 months until he died and I assume did not go to Heaven.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.