In an effort to automate attendance tracking and keep better track of student bathroom breaks, teachers began using an attendance kiosk system for student attendance on Aug. 19.

The system is set-up as a scanner and Chromebook where students can either type their ID number or scan their ID card to check into class.

Assistant Principal LaDonna Butler, the administrator in charge of rolling out the new system, said she hopes it will increase safety around campus, streamline administrative tasks and decrease inaccuracy and distractions.

“I got wind of teachers having to take notes when students were entering and leaving for the bathroom, which doesn’t allow for the teacher to focus on their instruction,” Butler said. “It’s very distracting. It takes away from not only the teacher’s preparation, but also all the other students that are sitting there.”

Butler said the system is meant to assist, rather than replace, teachers in taking attendance.

“We’ve asked our teachers to be mindful — it’s still their responsibility for attendance and (for) students who are coming into class,” Butler said.

Butler also said the system is in phase one. The second phase will involve replacing paper hall passes for students who want to go to the tech center, the wellness center, meet with administrators or counselors, and for journalists to conduct interviews.

AP Computer Science teacher Roxanne Lanzot said due to the system, she doesn’t have to repeatedly change and save her attendance when students come in late. However, she said the system has also made it harder for her to learn student names.

“I was forced to look at the student’s picture, look at their name, acknowledge that they were here,” Lanzot said. “My brain’s not doing that work anymore.”

And for junior Simone Batra, scanning her ID or typing in her ID number can be inconvenient.

“At times, I have to double check to make sure it’s scanned in because some teachers have turned their option to silence, so you can’t really hear whether or not you scan in, and then there comes the panic with, ‘Oh, shoot, this computer thinks I’m not here,’” Batra said.

Regardless of the inconvenience, Lanzot said the system is helping reduce tardiness.

“I have one class where I have some commonly tardy students, and I can already see them hustling to class faster because they know that it’s not going to be like, ‘We can just convince her of this or that,’” Lanzot said. “They’re like, ‘No, we better have our butts in there and scanned.’”

While the system encourages punctuality, Batra said this can feel pointless when students have to wait in line to scan in.

“The idea of having a computer watching you and staring you in the face (will) definitely scare students into being on time, but I don’t think that’s the right way to go about this,” Batra said. “That’s not what’s going to set them up for success later in life.”

Psychology teacher and technology teacher on special assignment Chris Farina, who helped beta-test the system last April, said he doesn’t think it will directly change student tardiness, but he does think it will help administrators prioritize students who need intervention.

“It can tell you if you’re looking at a student who is chronically one minute tardy or chronically 18 minutes tardy because it can tell you when they actually checked into class,” Farina said. “If administration is just trying to figure out who they should talk to to try and address chronic tardiness, they want to be able to focus on kids that are chronically 18 minutes late.”

Additionally, the attendance kiosk tracks bathroom breaks, creating a seven-minute hall pass for a student who checks out of class to use the restroom.

Farina said during beta-testing last year, the bathroom pass helped minimize disruptions in his classroom.

Batra, however, isn’t so sure.

“It kind of defeats the purpose of what it was meant to do because teachers still want students to tell them where they’re going, which makes total sense,” Batra said.

Lanzot said this element makes her a little uncomfortable.

“Our bodies aren’t all the same, so people have different needs about what they need to do in the bathroom and how long that’s going to take,” Lanzot said. “The students shouldn’t have to disclose exactly why they needed a few more minutes in the bathroom. That’s your private, personal business, and I would hate for students to feel any kind of embarrassment over why they needed more time in the bathroom.”

Batra agrees and said, though it is a good concept, the seven-minute time limit on bathroom breaks is unreasonable.

“We’re not robots; we don’t get things done within five minutes and come back,” Batra said. “The limit should be extended to at least 12 minutes to give students ample time to go wherever they need to go, do what they need to do and then have time to come back. Otherwise, you’re just panicking and stressing, and that’s what we want to eliminate here.”

Butler also said the system will not mark a student tardy or create punishment for bathroom breaks longer than seven minutes.

“Right now, we have a system where, if students are absent or tardy a certain amount of times, then they go and have a conversation with your admin and a campus supervisor,” Butler said. “That is to always: One, why is it happening? Two, how can we support?”

Butler said the system is not supposed to stress students out.

“The system is not designed to have a ‘gotcha,’” Butler said. “It allows for the teacher to feel secure that she knows her student is on a bathroom pass and on their way to the restroom. Also, campus supervision and administrators will know if a student is on a pass, and if it gets beyond a threshold, then that says, ‘Is this student OK?’”

And Butler said the system has helped decrease student roaming.

She also said the system could help build trust between students and staff, especially when students need to inform teachers why they may have taken longer to use the bathroom.

“We want to make sure students understand we’re not looking to bring a hammer down, but what we are looking for is students to be accountable,” Butler said. “I think that we should trust adults enough, especially because we take care of you students for eight hours a day, and I’m hoping that we have enough trust built that we’re able to say, ‘I have personal need.’”

Still, Batra sees privacy issues with the system that bother her.

“The teacher-student relationship is kind of broken by a computer,” Batra said. “I don’t like that the school can track where I’m going and see where I am at all times. It’s not like I’m doing anything wrong.”