Wichita Public Schools is introducing a new tardy scanning system that all schools will be expected to use starting next school year. Southeast principal Dr. Connie Redic decided to introduce it at the start of this semester to test it out. 

“What was happening was that on our self-created tardy system, someone else was having to go in and input every single tardy so that it matched up with Synergy [the system teachers use to input attendance]. And this change is going to allow us to the moment a student gets checked in, then it automatically puts their tardy in on synergy. So, it’s saving us time,” Redic said.

The decision to begin the system in January was not only for the staff but for the students as well.

“Students can come thinking every time they come, there’s something different. But August, like the beginning of a school year, is so crazy with everything being new, I wanted to take one new thing off of our plate for August, which is why I decided to do it in January,” Redic said.

Along with the new system, Redic also made changes to where students can check in when arriving late.

“So, we added a new tardy cart right downstairs at G Hall, because we have quite a few students that had to walk all the way back to E Hall… And then we added another cart at the athletic wing. That way students that you know are headed to choir, PE, those other areas, they can just stop at that cart right by the elevator before heading downstairs to the basement,” Redic said.

The updated system prints out a student’s destination on their slip for hall monitors to see where they are meant to be going. It also allows teachers to see when a student was marked tardy. 

“This system, the moment a student gets scanned, they’re marked tardy in synergy and so then that lets the teacher know they’ve been scanned at a cart they should be on their way to class,” Redic said.

There is also a new procedure for tardies during Seminar.

“The only other change that we had for this semester is when we’re tardy to Seminar and we get scanned, we’re sweeping everyone to the auditorium,” Redic said.

The overall goal of these changes is to keep students moving to class while making attendance more efficient.