On the first day back from Spring Break, an email was sent out to all the teachers letting them know about the new attendance system and how it’s going to keep track of students being present or tardy.
This was established because the State of Missouri wants to keep track of the amount of time students are at school and have a record of the overall school’s attendance rate.
Not only does the district get accreditation from test scores, grades, and graduates but also attendance contributes in helping the school.
Pattonville must have a 90 percent overall attendance rate to stay on top of the MSIP requirements. If students don’t come to school, then the district loses in points in their ranking.
At about 10 a.m., PowerSchool runs a report to check to see if the student was present at school, and if they are not, a call, text or email is sent to a parent or guardian automatically to alert them of their child’s attendance.
“When a student arrives late but doesn’t sign in at the front desk and they go straight to class, the system catches that,” attendance clerk Carrie Jones said.
The new system is supposed to help the teacher, too. If they forgot to mark a student present, then PowerSchool will notify the parents to be sure that’s right.
“One out of 10 parents do call us to say their child is suppose to be [at school],” assistant principal Gene Grimshaw said. “If they’re suppose to be here and they’re not here, then that’s an automatic referral.”
An example of this system not working though is when students are scheduled for a field trip and the teacher does not turn in the permission slips forms before the day of the event.
The orchestra was setting up for the Festival of Strings concert on Wednesday morning and because Mr. Daniel Henderson did not have the signed teacher permission forms excusing students from class turned in to the attendance office, teachers marked all the students absent from 1st hour classes. Calls were made home notifying families of their student’s absence even though they were in the gymnasium.
