Pearland ISD Uses Frontline Absence Management to Strengthen Coverage and Support for Teachers

Before Frontline	After Frontline
Rising teacher and paraprofessional absences, especially midweek, created coverage gaps — made worse when professional development (PD) sessions overlapped with peak absence days.	Fill rates returned to pre-pandemic levels (95–97%), even on historically difficult days, ensuring classrooms remained staffed.
Limited visibility into absence trends left HR and principals reactive; it was hard to distinguish between controllable (PD, discretionary) and uncontrollable (illness, FMLA) absences.	Data-driven reporting gave leaders actionable insight by campus, grade level, and absence type — empowering principals to adjust PD schedules and attendance incentives.
Shared substitute pool with neighboring districts and inconsistent sub communication led to low engagement and morning chaos when jobs went unfilled.	Substitute experience and engagement improved through district-branded training, user guides, and regular communication — subs feel supported and pick up more jobs.

A Practical, Data-First Approach to Absences

For Pearland Independent School District, managing staff absences is a daily effort to keep classrooms running smoothly across 23 campuses and more than 21,000 students. HR Support Services Specialist Nancy Atilano oversees substitute management and campus user training for a pool of about 300 subs, ensuring every classroom has the coverage it needs. 

“It really has transformed the way we manage our operational tasks here in Pearland,” she explained. “For me personally, it has streamlined a lot of our day-to-day processes.” 

When district leadership noticed a rise in teacher and paraprofessional absences, they turned to data already available in Frontline Absence Management to uncover the root causes and identify ways to improve fill rates. 

Mid-Size Texas District, Shared Regional Sub Pool

Pearland ISD operates in a competitive labor market, with neighboring districts drawing from the same substitute pool. As a mid-sized district just outside Houston, maintaining strong substitute engagement is essential. Frontline Absence Management had been in place long before Nancy joined eight years ago, providing years of reliable data to inform decisions. 

Rising Absences and Limited Sub Capacity on Peak Days

The data revealed a clear pattern: absences were rising among teachers and paraprofessionals, especially on specific days of the week. Professional development (PD) sessions concentrated on Wednesdays and Thursdays were making it harder to secure substitutes on those same days. And because the district shares its substitute pool with other nearby districts, coverage gaps became more difficult to manage when everyone needed subs at once. 

Using the Data You Already Have

Rather than searching for a new system, Pearland ISD doubled down on its existing Frontline solutions. The HR team began using Frontline Absence Management to better understand trends and identify where to take action. 

Nancy and her team focused on creating reports that could be filtered by campus, grade level, and absence type — distinguishing between what could be influenced (like PD or discretionary absences) and what couldn’t (like illness or FMLA leave). The team also wanted to make the data easy for leaders to interpret. 

“Absence Management really is a valuable tool,” said Nancy. “Last year we had a lot of absences among teachers, and it was able to pull data for us to see why teachers were missing. Are teachers missing a lot on Mondays and Fridays, or Wednesdays? Are we pulling a lot of teachers for PD? Maybe we shouldn’t be pulling as many. If we are having a lot of PD training on a Thursday, should we look at spreading it out across other days?” 

Campus-Specific Reporting, Semester-by-Semester Review

The HR team began by pulling districtwide reports in May and now plans to run reports each semester to track progress more closely. Using Frontline’s Report Writer and interactive absence tools, Nancy filters out uncontrollable absence categories to focus on actionable trends. 

“Absence Management is really good about just giving you the data,” she explained. These reports take just a few hours to prepare and are shared with district leadership and principals to support data-informed decision-making. 

What the Reports Revealed

The reports confirmed what many suspected: the most common absences occurred on Mondays and Fridays. “We found that a lot of people like to have an extended weekend,” Nancy noted. 

They also showed that stacking professional learning activities on the same days was creating unnecessary strain on fill rates. “On days when we have all of the PD going on a Wednesday and a Thursday, it’s difficult for us to fill, because we don’t have as many subs as a larger school district,” she explained. 

The data helped the district surface other insights, such as differences in absence rates between campuses and grade levels. Leadership began looking into potential contributing factors, such as morale or workload, to ensure each school received the right level of support. 

Taking Action

Data-Driven PD Scheduling

The first major change came from how professional development was scheduled. Instead of clustering PD days midweek, district leaders began spreading sessions across Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to balance sub demand more evenly. 

Sub Pool Health and Support

The HR department also strengthened how the district supports substitutes. They created Pearland-branded training materials and user guides to make the system easy to navigate. Substitutes now receive more professional development and communication to ensure they feel prepared and valued. 

“We’re in a good spot now where subs feel they have the support that they need,” said Nancy. “We’ve done a really good job of making sure our subs have training.” 

She added, “We’ve offered more tools so that they are better prepared for the classroom.” 

Campus-Level Incentives

At the campus level, leaders explored small morale-building incentives — such as jeans days or prize drawings — to encourage stronger attendance on days historically associated with higher absences. 

Fill Rate: 95–97%

These efforts are paying off. Today, Pearland ISD maintains a 95–97% fill rate, a return to pre-pandemic levels. “In the last few years, our fill rate has been great. We haven’t had a problem with it.” said Nancy. 

Beyond the numbers, the district has seen improvements in how substitutes and campus users experience the system. “What I appreciate the most is that the system is very user-friendly across the board for all of our groups, whether it be employees, custodians, teachers, paras, campus users, or org users,” Nancy said. 

As a result, substitutes are more engaged and campuses are less likely to split classes to cover absences. “We’re in a good spot right now where subs are picking up absences and they want to be at the campus.” 

The next semester’s reports will help confirm whether these schedule and morale efforts are reducing absences even further. 

More Days with Teachers in Front of Students

At its core, Pearland’s goal is simple: keep teachers in classrooms as much as possible while ensuring coverage when they can’t be. The district’s approach has improved instructional continuity and given campus leaders the visibility they need. 

“When you see the data as a whole and you see it for your campus, it makes more of an impact,” Nancy said. Principals now use these insights to take ownership of absence trends and plan ahead. 

Lessons for Other Districts

Pearland’s experience underscores the value of using existing data to drive improvement. By focusing only on controllable factors and visualizing data by campus or grade level, leaders can make quick, informed decisions that build accountability without adding workload. 

“At least they have the data so they can figure out what they need to do on their end to help employees come to work,” Nancy explained. 

With only a few hours of report preparation each semester, HR leaders turn insight into progress. Training, communication, and consistent follow-up have been key. Treating substitutes as valued members of the team has improved satisfaction and contributed to stronger fill rates districtwide. 

Setting the Rhythm

Looking ahead, Pearland ISD plans to continue its twice-yearly reporting cadence, comparing semester-over-semester and year-over-year data to identify longer-term trends. The HR team is also exploring ways to anticipate PD coverage needs before they happen. 

As Nancy put it, “We want to make sure that teachers have the support they need, and if there are things that we can do to help them be in the classroom, then obviously that’s going to be amazing.” 

Through consistent use of Frontline Absence Management, Pearland ISD has turned data into a practical tool for improving attendance, strengthening substitute engagement, and keeping learning on track across the district.