ORLANDO, Fla. — Orange County Public Schools is changing when the district notifies parents if their child is absent.

Currently, parents are notified the child was absent at the end of the school day. But starting April 8, the school district will start to send absence notifications shortly after a student misses a class.

This change comes shortly after the missing child case of Madeline Soto, who was later found dead.

Her mother told investigators she did not know her daughter did not make it to school until the end of the day during pick up.

Following the tragic case, more than 12,000 parents signed a petition for the change.

“To my knowledge, we were not considering it prior to the petition with thousands of signatures,” OCPS District 1 board member Angie Gallo said. “However, when you know better, you do better. It’s one of those scenarios where this does make sense.”

Alexus Best said she was happy to see parents' voices being heard.

“It gives you peace of mind throughout your day,” Best said outside Edgewater High School, waiting to pick up his 11th grader. “Not worrying about whether or not your child is safe or knowing that they are in school is key.”

With students in class numerous hours a day, Best said it was better to get more info sooner, rather than later.

“If you are notified at the back end as opposed to being notified at the front end, there are a lot of things that could happen in the middle,” he said.

School district officials added that there will be different times for the calls if a student is out.

For instance, an elementary student would be first thing, since they all report to their main classroom, whereas with a middle or high school student, it would depend on which class they missed during the day if it wasn’t first period.