Education researchers and the US Department of Education interpret chronic absentee data as supporting a causal relationship between absenteeism and negative outcomes later in life (Frydenlund, 2022; Berkowitz et al., 2017; Hopson & Lee, 2011; Thapa et al., 2013). As school absence rates continue to reflect disparities among students of color and students who are economically disadvantaged (Kearney et al., 2022), the response to absences are often based on deficit-based assumptions that are supported by compulsory attendance laws: students are not where they are required to be (Frydenlund, 2022). This study addressed three research questions focused on investigating how leaders develop perceptions of the chronically absent and practices for attendance intervention (RQ1), how site leader describe their practices towards chronically absent youth (RQ2), and the role that site leaders believe they place in creating a sense of belonging and self-determination among chronically absent youth (RQ3). This is a qualitative study that involved semi-structured interviews with 17 site leaders from a central coast school district in California with an intentional attendance intervention system, community partnerships, and significant resources allocated for supporting positive attendance. Key findings include: (1) organizational culture is critical to creating conditions that humanize students or perpetuate enclosures and judgments on students and families who do not comply with institutional expectations, (2) deficit-based perceptions of chronically absent students guide leaders to focus on outcomes and changes in behavior as they assess the effectiveness of their practices and interventions, (3) brain-based, culturally responsive perceptions of chronically absent students guide leaders to humanize their students and to focus on repairing relationships between the family and the school, (4) leaders who have experienced the impact of not belonging prioritized and defended the importance of belonging, especially for the chronically absent student, (5) leaders who have not had the opportunity to experience being marginalized viewed belonging as another educational initiative that could be addressed through systemic programming and good intentions. The findings of this study reveal the influence of leaders' positionalities and perceptions on their practice and the areas of opportunities to focus on well-being and the survivance of marginalized learning community members. The findings of this study offer recommendations for creating conditions that support a brain-based, culturally responsive approach to supporting students who are identified as chronically absent. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]