Stephen Wakefield 
BALTIMORE, Md. — March 31, 2026 — New Jersey’s Linden Public Schools (LPS) today announced a new initiative to fight chronic absenteeism in Linden High School. Supported by a new partnership with Concentric Educational Solutions, this initiative implements an innovative, human-centered service model to engage students and families in addressing the academic, social, emotional, and environmental factors contributing to chronic absenteeism.
LPS, a diverse, 11-site school system serving more than 6,100 preK3–12 students in Union County, New Jersey, is dedicated to empowering all learners and developing future-ready individuals. As part of its latest strategic roadmap released in July 2025, LPS established a priority goal to reduce chronic absenteeism by 35% by June 2030. Following a rigorous review of potential partners, the district selected Concentric Educational Solutions to support its efforts toward this goal by fostering long-term, trusting relationships with students and families that strengthen learning engagement and reduce barriers to school attendance.
Concentric partners with school systems to combat the urgent issue of chronic absenteeism. Concentric’s unique approach leverages trained members of the community to gather real-time insights from students and families that help school systems respond to student absences earlier, align resources, and address the factors driving disengagement. Services Concentric will provide to LPS include:
- Home visits by trained, community-based teams to enrolled Linden High School students identified as chronically absent or not attending school
- Engagement with families through collaborative discussions to identify barriers to attendance
- Custom ethnographic research from noted scholar and Howard University Professor Dr. Ivory Toldson interpreting the data collected during family engagements and outlining how and why chronically absent students have disengaged from learning
- Collaboration with LPS administrators that turns research into intervention and remediation strategies for the students and families engaged during home visits
“Chronic absenteeism is not simply an attendance issue — it is a student success issue, and we take it personally in Linden,” said Linden Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Atiya Perkins. “Every day a student is not in their seat is a day of instruction missed or a relationship or friendship impacted or not created. These are all opportunities that require consistent presence and attendance. Our Show Up and Roar campaign reflects our belief that showing up is the foundation of everything: resilience, opportunity, achievement, and relationships. Partnering with Concentric deepens the work we are already doing with intention and purpose, because every Tiger deserves every chance to walk across our graduation stage prepared for what comes next.”
Chronic absenteeism, defined by the U.S. Department of Education as missing 10% or more of school days, emerged as a serious challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the American Enterprise Institute’s Return 2 Learn Tracker, chronic absenteeism surged nationwide from 15% before COVID-19 to 28% in 2022 and remains elevated at 24% in 2024.
“Concentric Educational Solutions is proud to partner with Linden Public Schools on their efforts to fight chronic absenteeism,” said Concentric Educational Solutions CEO Molly Hebert Loyd. “Dr. Perkins and her talented team are deeply committed to helping every chronically absent student return to school and re-engage in learning, and we are excited to support their efforts.”
To learn more about Concentric Educational Solutions’ approach to combating chronic absenteeism and download the company’s new white paper on chronic absenteeism, visit the company’s website, follow the organization on X, or connect on LinkedIn.
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