Linden Public Schools Expands Attendance Initiative Districtwide

Linden Public Schools announced on August 13, 2026, that it is expanding its partnership with Concentric Educational Solutions to reduce chronic absenteeism across every school in the district. The expansion builds on results from a pilot program at Linden High School earlier in 2026.

Union County Life covers Linden education, school district initiatives, and student support programs across all 21 Union County municipalities.

Initial Success Drives Expansion

Superintendent Dr. Atiya Perkins stated, "We are very pleased with the initial results of our partnership with Concentric Educational Solutions. Since the start of this work, we've built a system that identifies the real barriers to attendance and helps us strategize how to remove them so impacted students can reconnect to learning."

The district has set an ambitious goal to cut chronic absenteeism by 35 percent by June 2030. This expansion aligns Concentric's efforts with the district's "Show Up and Roar" attendance awareness campaign.

Program Components

Under the expanded partnership, Concentric Educational Solutions will provide comprehensive services across the district:

Home visits by trained, community-based teams to students identified as chronically absent

Engagement with families to identify specific attendance barriers

Custom ethnographic research from Howard University Professor Dr. Ivory Toldson to outline intervention strategies tailored to student needs

The research component brings evidence-based insights to the district's approach, ensuring that interventions address the real causes of chronic absenteeism.

District Context

Linden Public Schools serves more than 6,100 preK-12 students across 11 sites in Union County. The district's chronic absenteeism rate was 23.2 percent for the 2024-2025 school year, down 3 percentage points from 26.2 percent in 2022-2023. This improvement demonstrates progress even before the districtwide expansion. New Jersey's statewide chronic absenteeism rate was 14.4 percent for the same year.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10 percent or more of school days.

Partnership Leadership

Concentric Educational Solutions CEO Molly Hebert Loyd emphasized the importance of relationship-based approaches. "The district has shown real courage in taking on chronic absenteeism head-on," Loyd said. "Reconnecting students to school is relationship work, not paperwork."

This philosophy guides the program's focus on family engagement and community connection alongside data-driven intervention.

Find more Linden education news and school district information on Union County Life.

FAQ

Q: What is Linden Public Schools' chronic absenteeism initiative?
A: A districtwide program partnering with Concentric Educational Solutions to identify and reduce chronic absenteeism through home visits, family engagement, and evidence-based interventions.

Q: When was the chronic absenteeism initiative announced?
A: August 13, 2026. The expansion was announced after a successful pilot at Linden High School earlier in 2026.

Q: What is chronic absenteeism?
A: Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10 percent or more of school days during a school year.

Q: What is Linden's current chronic absenteeism rate?
A: For the 2024-2025 school year, Linden Public Schools had a chronic absenteeism rate of 23.2 percent, down from 26.2 percent in 2022-2023.

Q: What is Linden's goal?
A: The district aims to reduce chronic absenteeism by 35 percent by June 2030.

Q: How many students does the initiative serve?
A: Linden Public Schools serves 6,100+ preK-12 students across 11 sites in Union County.

Q: What does the program include?
A: Home visits by trained community teams, family engagement to identify barriers, and custom research-based intervention strategies from Howard University Professor Dr. Ivory Toldson.

Q: Who is Concentric Educational Solutions?
A: The organization partnering with Linden Public Schools to provide chronic absenteeism reduction services and support.

Q: How does the program address attendance barriers?
A: Through family engagement conversations, home visits, and evidence-based research to understand and remove the specific barriers preventing students from attending school.