In 2019, the Lutheran High School Association of Greater Milwaukee (LHSAGM) in Wisconsin had been using Tardy Kiosk at a few of their schools with Skyward SMS 2.0. In 2022, the district migrated to Skyward Qmlativ. To continue using the same automated Tardy Kiosk hardware they had for Skyward SMS 2.0, they implemented School Technology’s newest web app software, SchoolTRAK. We spoke with Jason, the Director of IT for three years, to hear more about how they are using SchoolTRAK.
“The implementation of SchoolTRAK was really easy. It’s a web app that connects to Skyward, and we also updated the actual Tardy Kiosk hardware so that it could do the check-ins and check-outs with SchoolTRAK.” said Jason. With how customizable SchoolTRAK is, each school uses a slightly different setup. One school has a kiosk at their front office. Another has two kiosks, one at the front office and one at the library, since it is more centrally located. The other school has their kiosk on a mobile cart that they move into the hallway when needed.
At the kiosk, a student simply enters their ID number, their tardy is entered into SchoolTRAK, then a tardy slip is printed for them to take to class. SchoolTRAK syncs with Skyward to enter the tardy directly into Skyward as well. “We like the ease of use and how little time it takes to get through the line of tardy students.” Jason said. LHSAGM automates the process further using Skyward’s Skylert feature to automatically notify guardians of unexcused absences in the morning.
On top of tracking tardies and absences, SchoolTRAK’s latest update has a new, more robust, ‘Out’ feature added. With this feature, schools can track students leaving the campus with a reason, and it will push their absence for the rest of the day. If they return to the campus and check back in, it will update again.
Another new feature, which was popular in Skyward SMS 2.0, is the Student Locator. Now staff can quickly find where a student last checked in using SchoolTRAK for Skyward Qmlativ as well! SchoolTRAK’s Positive Attendance add-on module is also now available. With this module, a ‘Present’ code is added for tracking attendance along with tardies and absences.
“SchoolTRAK has been great for tardy and absence tracking,” Jason said. “We are excited to dive into the newer features!”
For more information on what SchoolTRAK can do for your district, reach out to us at sales@k12sta.com
