Introduced on Friday, September 20th, admin has deployed new attendance scanners for more efficient and safer ways to do attendance.
These scanners work by scanning the barcode shown on every student’s ID that is required to be worn on their lanyard, and the scan is automatically inputted into each teacher’s computer to count for attendance.
“Every other high school is doing this already, so we’re late to the party,” Assistant Principal Eric Gant said. “These scanners are going to be extremely effective, and it holds students accountable to wear their ID, which again, is a very important safety factor that we’ve put into place. So now your ID has a dual role. Not only do you do that to identify yourself for safety, but you need it to do attendance in the morning.”
The goal for these scanners is to take attendance quickly and efficiently; issues that some teachers have struggled with in the past.
“I think it essentially evens out the expectations,” Gant said. “Teachers are supposed to be by the doors anyway, so they’re just greeting them and saying hi and they can scan them right in, or they can have the scanner set up and kids can just scan in,” Gant said, “So, I don’t think it’s too much of a burden. I really don’t think it’s too much to change in the normal procedure.
Some complaints have been made about the scanners, but overall, the scanners have proven to be in working order.
“I do prefer this type of attendance just because it’s more efficient, and I get to greet students at the door with the scanner, so it gets more student-teacher interactions,” Chemistry teacher Ann-Janeth Flores said.
However, many students have complaints of their own, mainly about how time-consuming and unreliable the scanners were.
“It’s a waste of money,” senior Raul Gonzalez Castillo said. “They’re trying to get those scanners for every teacher instead of using that money for something that we actually need, like faster Chromebooks or just better Wi-Fi. They’re wasting it on some dumb little scanner that solves a problem that never existed in the first place.”
Altogether, despite the sentiments of students, it has been successful so far, and the school’s goal for easier and safer attendance could be achieved.
“I think the scanners are helpful for teachers, so they don’t have to go through the attendance by themselves, and then students can just scan themselves in at any time,” junior Michael Haley said, “The only downside to it is if someone forgets their lanyard; I don’t know if there’s a way they could scan themselves in without that. Overall, it’s a useful tool and it’s utilized well, and I haven’t experienced many problems with it so far.”