Attendance & Absence Check-In
Contact parents or guardians of absent students to verify the reason for absence, update attendance records, and identify students who may need support.
Why this matters
Improve enrollment, retention, and outcomes with voice automation for student engagement, attendance, and fundraising. This example shows you how to automate attendance & absence check-in calls end-to-end with Guava's SDK — no telephony plumbing, no prompt engineering, just Python.
Installation
Install from Guava's private PyPI index. A public package is coming soon — the install command will simplify to pip install guava.
# Step 1: Install Guava
pip install gridspace-guava --extra-index-url https://guava-pypi.gridspace.com
# Public PyPI package coming soon — the install command will simplify to:
# pip install guava
# Step 2: Set your credentials
export GUAVA_API_KEY="..."
export GUAVA_AGENT_NUMBER="..."How it's built
Every Guava agent is a Python class. Walk through the key sections below, then grab the complete file at the end.
Imports
Import the Guava SDK and any helpers you need. guava.CallController is the base class for every voice agent.
# Install: pip install gridspace-guava --extra-index-url https://guava-pypi.gridspace.com
import guava
import osAgent setup
set_persona() defines how the agent presents itself. set_task() gives it its mission in plain English. The checklist drives the conversation — Guava works through it top-to-bottom, collecting Field values and speaking Say items as it goes.
class AttendanceCheckinBot(guava.CallController):
def __init__(self, student_name: str, school: str, grade: str, absence_date: str):
super().__init__()
self.set_persona(
organization_name=f"{school} Attendance Office",
agent_name="Taylor",
)
self.set_task(
objective=f"Contact parent/guardian of {student_name} ({grade}) regarding absence on {absence_date}",
checklist=[
f"Introduce yourself from {school} Attendance Office regarding {student_name}'s absence today.",
guava.Field(
key="speaking_with",
field_type="choice",
description="Who is the caller speaking with?",
choices=["parent", "guardian", "student", "other family member"],
),
guava.Field(
key="absence_reason",
field_type="choice",
description=f"Reason for {student_name}'s absence",
choices=["illness", "medical appointment", "family emergency",
"pre-excused absence", "not sure where student is", "other"],
),
guava.Field(
key="expected_return_date",
field_type="text",
description="When is the student expected to return?",
),
guava.Field(
key="needs_coursework",
field_type="bool",
description="Would they like today's coursework sent home?",
),
guava.Field(
key="concerning_circumstances",
field_type="bool",
description="Are there any concerning circumstances the school should be aware of?",
),
"Thank the contact and note the excused absence if applicable.",
],
on_complete=lambda fields: print(f"Absence recorded for {student_name}: {fields.get('absence_reason')}"),
)
guava.dial(
controller=AttendanceCheckinBot,
controller_args={"student_name": "Tyler Reynolds", "school": "Lincoln Middle School",
"grade": "7th grade", "absence_date": "today"},
to=os.environ["GUARDIAN_PHONE"],
agent_number=os.environ["GUAVA_AGENT_NUMBER"],
api_key=os.environ["GUAVA_API_KEY"],
)Platform performance
<1s
Response time
99.99%
Uptime SLA
13+
Industries served
Full example
The complete file — copy it, save it as example.py, and run it.
# Install: pip install gridspace-guava --extra-index-url https://guava-pypi.gridspace.com
import guava
import os
class AttendanceCheckinBot(guava.CallController):
def __init__(self, student_name: str, school: str, grade: str, absence_date: str):
super().__init__()
self.set_persona(
organization_name=f"{school} Attendance Office",
agent_name="Taylor",
)
self.set_task(
objective=f"Contact parent/guardian of {student_name} ({grade}) regarding absence on {absence_date}",
checklist=[
f"Introduce yourself from {school} Attendance Office regarding {student_name}'s absence today.",
guava.Field(
key="speaking_with",
field_type="choice",
description="Who is the caller speaking with?",
choices=["parent", "guardian", "student", "other family member"],
),
guava.Field(
key="absence_reason",
field_type="choice",
description=f"Reason for {student_name}'s absence",
choices=["illness", "medical appointment", "family emergency",
"pre-excused absence", "not sure where student is", "other"],
),
guava.Field(
key="expected_return_date",
field_type="text",
description="When is the student expected to return?",
),
guava.Field(
key="needs_coursework",
field_type="bool",
description="Would they like today's coursework sent home?",
),
guava.Field(
key="concerning_circumstances",
field_type="bool",
description="Are there any concerning circumstances the school should be aware of?",
),
"Thank the contact and note the excused absence if applicable.",
],
on_complete=lambda fields: print(f"Absence recorded for {student_name}: {fields.get('absence_reason')}"),
)
guava.dial(
controller=AttendanceCheckinBot,
controller_args={"student_name": "Tyler Reynolds", "school": "Lincoln Middle School",
"grade": "7th grade", "absence_date": "today"},
to=os.environ["GUARDIAN_PHONE"],
agent_number=os.environ["GUAVA_AGENT_NUMBER"],
api_key=os.environ["GUAVA_API_KEY"],
)Run it
Start the agent. It will connect to Guava's infrastructure and begin accepting calls on your assigned number.
python example.py