Attendance rates for the San Diego Unified School District are the best they've been since the pandemic, the district says, adding that the improvement came about with a focus on overall student wellness.

San Diego Unified serves more than 121,000 students and fewer of them are chronically absent, meaning fewer of them miss 10% or more of their classes in a school year.

"You really have to be healthy enough to be coming to school to learn,” Susan Barndollar told NBC 7's Shandel Menezes.

Barndollar executive directs nursing, wellness and mental health for San Diego Unified.

"I think we have this huge issue where people who do really well with mental health are the ones showing up at school, but the people with poor wellness and mental health are the ones who have the most absenteeism ra

See Full Page