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District officials put a new attendance system in place this semester that has teachers taking attendance every class period instead of once a day. 

By taking attendance every class period, if a student misses a class mid-day, there is immediate accountability. An instant Blackboard message is sent to parents for every class period a student misses. 

Teachers take attendance and submit it electronically during each class. Absences and tardy arrivals automatically message the Blackboard system. Many teachers are excited about the idea of 

“ I personally think this new attendance for every period at Schurr is going to be a treasure for both parents and staff,” said English Teacher Betty Harbison. “It will help a lot of students as they are working on their skills of getting to class on time and on a regular basis.”

While teachers throughout the school seem to be content with the new attendance system, some students don’t seem to agree. 

“I think it’s kinda silly because some kids have different reasons for being late or absent,” said Sophomore Alexis Beltran. “It’s kinda like, in a way, hurting them because you don’t know why they are absent or why they are late. It’s weird.”

When teachers are absent, attendance technicians are required to manually input five periods per teacher. With roughly 30 students per period, the absences add up.

“It’s been very challenging for the attendance office ladies,” said Attendance Technician Letty Arellano. “With every substitute, we have to put in everything manually.” 

QR codes have been implemented in some classes. QR codes can hold students more accountable for being late— requiring students to show teachers their QR code to be admitted into attendance. 

Taking attendance next year  “should be a little bit better with Powerschool,” said Arellano. Powerschool is the school communications platform that will replace School Loop.