Strong relationships affect academics and attendance: an Along school story in San Diego

Neil Egasani, dean of students at Magnolia Science Academy in San Diego, understands the power of connecting with students. In his previous role as a principal at Ocean View Hills Elementary School in the San Ysidro School District, he recognized that forming relationships with students and focusing on their social-emotional needs was the key to moving beyond the status of being a program improvement school. 

“My thirst for social-emotional learning started there. Our school was on the border with Mexico, and you could see the Mexican flag in our PE area,” recalls Egasani. “Many of the kids came from an impoverished community and had many challenges. And, our scores were low. I was mentored by a principal who spoke around the country about character education. So we started ‘Viking Pride’ every week, where we did character development with a social component. There was amazing growth, and we got out of program improvement my third year.”

This school-wide character education program continues to exist at Ocean View Hills today. And with this experience under his belt, Egasani came to Magnolia Science Academy eight years ago knowing that social-emotional development had to be part of the school climate in order to achieve the best student outcomes. Initially, Egasani worked with teachers to write circle prompt questions to be used every Monday in homeroom classes to create opportunities for school-wide culture-building and for teacher-student connections.

“We had a great start, but we started to fizzle out. We needed another process, and something with novelty,” says Egasani. “When I saw Along, I thought, ‘This is what we need.’ 

Mindful Mondays: a weekly checkpoint for all students

For the ‘24-’25 school year, Egasani introduced a school-wide program called “Mindful Mondays.” Teachers across the Magnolia campus post the same Along question to their grade 6-8 students during homeroom each Monday, which sets the tone for the week ahead.

“You get to know where the students are on Monday, and then you have that week to see where they’re at and can do interventions,” explains Egasani. “We then follow up with an SEL lesson every Thursday. If you have a student who answered a question on Along that sticks out, we can use Thursday as a checkpoint with that student. That’s how we can continue to help the kids that need it the most.”

The weekly Along questions are often chosen to help make connections with other school events. For example, students recently had assemblies around school expectations. Called the “Wizard Way,” because the school mascot is a Wizard, the assembly emphasized the school’s focus on wisdom, intellect, zeal, accountability, respect, and determination. The Along question chosen following that was, “When was a time you weren’t allowed to do something then realized the boundary was meant to help?” to further emphasize the expectations. 

Widespread impacts of relationship building

Egasani says that focusing on school culture with programs like Along has many positive “spillover” effects for students.

When he first started at Magnolia, Egasani says his idea was to “get the school climate to where we have these healthy relationships with our kids. And then, it spilled over into our academics. Three years ago, in 2021, we were recognized as a California Distinguished School, and then we were recognized again as a California Distinguished School in 2024. That’s like winning a back-to-back Super Bowl.”

This school year, he says that Along is particularly helpful in addressing absenteeism trends. “I believe Along can help us with the kids who are new to our school and have chronic absences,” he explains. “Any new kid who comes to us, we have an academic counselor attached to that student who will use Along to pose a question to them to make sure there is a pulse check and so that hopefully the kids feel like someone cares. I think we only had 10 kids absent last Tuesday–that never happens! It’s usually between 15-20. Our attendance shows that we have strong engagement.”

Egasani is excited about continuing to use Along this school year. When talking to teachers, he recognizes that “there’s a lot to do. But I promise you, if you have connections with these kids, your job will be a lot easier. It’s like an investment.”