The United Way of Greater Kansas City is working with Metro-area schools to stem chronic absenteeism.There's a reason why. The numbers are staggering.43 percent of metro area schools fall short of nationally recognized attendance goals-- 90 percent of students in attendance, 90 percent of the time.Why? Administrators are finding out there are many reasons - and no one solution.Take Gordon Parks Elementary, for instance. 186 young students come to the public charter school to learn.The goal is to have them all there every day, but it's an uphill battle.Gordon Parks has its own 'war room,' where administrators like Kirsten Lipari-Braman track attendance down to the minute."When you're only in school so many hours, it makes it hard to catch up, so we really focus our individual attention on these kids here," Lipari-Braman explained, pointing to a list of kids with major attendance issues.The biggest question for administrators is this: why aren't kids coming to class?The answer is complicated, and it changes with every student. "It could be because they're consistently in daycare all of the time, because families have to work so many hours just to make ends meet and make it through the day," Lipari-Braman continued.The running solution right now involves teamworkThe school has what's called a 'wraparound care team' -- helping not just the student, but their family as well. "We now have a family advocate. A full-time school nurse. We have a dean of students, two behavioral interventionists," Lipari-Braman said."I have car seats in my car. Two of us will go, and we just pick up kids. We'll go to homes and just pick them up. That's just what you do."It's a way to keep kids at the top of the attendance chart and avoid a life going down the wrong path."They need to know they have a voice. They can do something different, and they can choose something different," Lipari-Braman continued.Stay tuned to KMBC 9 News throughout the month of October as Cody explores the strategies district are using to combat chronic absenteeism.