As of today, summer is more than half over. Every year at about this time, you start to see signs that school will once again be in session. A few of my friends already have their back to school shopping done.
Parents and students aren’t the only ones gearing up for the new academic year; many district-wide offices are already abuzz with activity. After all, it’s their job to make sure every student is present and accounted for from day one.
A Rite of Passage
I don’t know if things still work like they did when I was in High School (never mind what year that was). Back then, the school sent us our High School I.D. badges a few weeks before school started. They’d show up in the mail and it not only marked the start of a brand new year; it was a rite of passage-a notice of admission into High School.
Now, like anything at that age, the novelty would wear off after a while, but we still had to have our I.D. badges with us everywhere we went. This included:
- Anywhere on campus
- The school cafeteria
- Field trips
- School events and rallies
You name it. All things school-related had to be accompanied by a High School I.D badge. It struck me recently, this isn’t just a student’s ticket to admission; it’s admission’s way of keeping track of students.
An Ah-Ha Moment
On the surface, this doesn’t seem like a revelation until you consider the work that goes into a project like this. It’s not just the sheer magnitude of the undertaking; it’s managing the system once you have it in place.
Over the last two years, there where almost 900,000 K-12 students attending public schools in Minnesota. That doesn’t count any charter, private, or special needs students. The average class size is 25 to 28 students. Let those numbers sink in, and you’ll begin to better understand what school administrations are up against. There has to be a non-invasive way to track and monitor all of those students. There has to be accountability.
That’s where the High School I.D. badges come in. They offer a solution to problems like truancy, absence rates, tracking attendance at social events, and other requirements. In a sense, that little plastic card is there to make sure students make it through High School in one piece. There’s just one flaw in the system: it comes with a high margin of error.
When I was younger, a forgotten, lost or broken I.D card would have been met with one of my signature eye rolls. I didn’t understand what the big deal was. I’d pick up my temporary pass and get a new I.D about three days later.
At that age, what I didn’t know could probably fill volumes, not just one book. I didn’t know the office would spend the next 3 days:
- Tracking down and voiding my old I.D. number in the system
- Assigning me a new number
- Updating my records
- Ordering and laminating a new card
- Coding that card for on-campus use
That’s a lot to go through for one missing card, and they still have to do it for every student, every time. Only these days the process has to be completed a lot faster.
Finding an Effective Solution
Of course, adding a full roster of students at the beginning of the year can be more of a challenge. We believe the solution to that challenge is collaboration. Contact us and we’ll help you design, print and send an original batch of I.D’s to your incoming and returning students. Once the system is in place, you can manage it using the template from our website: www.plasticprinters.com.
