South Kitsap School District officials shared encouraging updates on district goals related to student attendance, academic performance and sense of belonging during its May 21 board meeting.

“In our belonging goal, we aim to increase the number of students, staff, and parents who feel they belong in the South Kitsap School District,” superintendent Tim Winter said. “85% of students and 81% of parents said they felt like they belonged.”

Academic performance is also trending upward, with 70% of ninth graders currently on track to graduate, up from a 47% baseline. The district’s goal is 80%.

Another area of improvement the district is seeing is student attendance. The percentage of students with regular attendance, defined as missing 17 or fewer school days, has increased from 55% to 66.8% this year. The target is 75%.

“As we know, you have to be in school to learn in most cases,” Winter said. “We want to continue to push on that attendance piece to keep those students in their classes, learning and in front of their teachers.”

The district is also finalizing interviews for the next principal of Marcus Whitman Middle School.

Graduation ceremonies are also approaching, with Explorer Academy’s occurring June 6, South Kitsap High School June 7 and Discovery High School on June 9