3/30/2011  - State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced that nine districts, including Downey Unified School District, have been designated as models of attendance improvement and dropout prevention by the State School Attendance Review Board (State SARB). "In addition to the financial emergency facing schools across California, the state is also confronted by an ongoing dropout crisis. Young people who desperately need an education are not attending school regularly and falling further behind until they eventually drop out of school," said Torlakson.