When students ask to leave the classroom, arrive late to school or leave school early, there is a new procedure they have to follow. Students have to fill out a Google form with details of where they are going and why, their name and what grade they are in. These Google Forms are displayed on computers that are assigned to each classroom and the office and were inspired by the need to keep better track of where students are during the day.
“The main reason signing out on the computer had to be enforced this year was because there were a lot of kids in the hallways, so we’re trying to find a way to see if we can limit that and figure out where kids are going and get them back in the classroom,” high school math teacher Adam Vogt said.
This new procedure, implemented by 7-12 principal Stefanie Novotny, will have several benefits, not only in seeing where students are going but also in other ways because the results are sortable by student, date, class period and classroom.
“Some of the benefits of this new system include teachers being able to see which students are continually missing classes and hopefully deterring some students from leaving class knowing it will be tracked,” Novotny said.
The form is also useful for the staff in the front office when students leave school early, arrive at school late or are tardy.
“Some of the benefits that could come from this new procedure are that signing in and out times and records of absences are more accurate,” high school office secretary Diana Kult said.
Despite the benefits, because this is a new procedure, there are still some challenges to work through to make sure that this policy is being enforced and followed correctly by staff and students.
“Some of the possible challenges are obviously remembering to do it, checking to make sure you’re holding kids accountable and they’re actually doing it,” Vogt said.
Another problem is that some students haven’t gotten used to having to sign out on the computer since this is a new change for them, and they don’t like some aspects of the process.
“I feel like the computers, most of the time, are haphazard or just don’t work a lot of the time,” sophomore Caleb Walter said. “I feel like we shouldn’t really sign out on the computers and just stick to the way it was or have a written system instead.”
The students aren’t the only ones who have noticed some inconsistencies with being able to sign out due to problems with the devices.
“Every day I feel like I see students struggling while trying to sign out,” business and technology teacher Hunter Vanness said. “They have to refresh the screen multiple times before it starts working.”
Students aren’t able to learn if they aren’t in the classroom, getting the best education possible, which is why it is so important to have a policy like this in place.
“I think that signing out on the computers was a good decision to make because it’s an efficient way to keep track of where students are at all times, and I think that it’s something that the school should do in the future,” senior Maddie Fenn said.
While there are still some kinks to work out, for now, this system is working well and will continue to be implemented.
“Overall, I think that [signing out on the computer] has been a positive change. An important part of my job is keeping track of absences, and this has been very helpful and makes my job easier,” Kult said.
