The Galesburg School District is spending nearly $90,000 on equipment that district officials say should make taking attendance in every Galesburg Junior/Senior High School and Lombard Middle School class easier.
The District-205 Board this week approved purchasing what’s called “SchoolTRAK” attendance hardware and software that will result in small attendance-taking kiosks in each classroom.
It will be tied, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Jennifer Hamm says, to each student’s I.D. badge.
“The students will come in each period, and they will scan into the classroom. It takes full attendance,” said Hamm. “The teacher will no longer have to take physical attendance, which will help save instructional time. The kids, as they come in, will scan their badges, and the class can start.”
What are called “tardy kiosks” will also be purchased, as part of an overall system known as “Positive Attendance.” It’s also expected to be implemented in places like the school library, among other locations, where the students might go during the day.
What happens if a student skips the scanning process? Perhaps a minor inconvenience for administrators and the student’s parents, said Hamm.
“If (students) don’t scan in to the Positive Attendance system, they’re going to be marked as absent,” said Hamm. “They’re parents are going to get a call saying, ‘You weren’t in P.E.’ or ‘You weren’t in Algebra 2.’ And then we’re going to have an issue, and then you’re going to have a conversation with the dean, as to ‘Where were you?’ (meaning, the student) And then, (the student is) going to say ‘Well, I was in class.’ And, I would then imagine the deans would go back and check the (security) camera and say, ‘Yep, he was there. He just didn’t scan in.'”
Hamm says some of those more specific issues will be worked out. She says for things like physical education class, there may be more than one kiosk available.
Hamm says if a student loses an I.D. altogether, they will be given a second one at the beginning of the year that they must keep in their locker they should use.
A school board member recently suggested that mandatory wearing of an I.D. badge was less a security issue, and more one of targeting certain group of students, which the district denied.
