A new automated attendance process began Jan. 7. The process is designed to iron out mistakes made when teachers take attendance, as well as to promote students’ presence, by notifying parents of unexcused absences.

“Everyday after school, the attendance office generates a report to Infinite Campus utilizing an automated system that sends a call to parents, whose students had at least one absence during the day,” senior class Principal Beth Middendorf said.

Middendorf admired the outcome from this process at Parkway North.

“North received positive comments from parents. We saw it as a proactive measure,” Middendorf said.

The process also allows students to correct any attendance mistakes. Before the process, if students arrived late and a  teachers forget to mark it, Attendance Secretary Ann Lehmann manually made the correction.

“I cannot make corrections if a kid is marked absent,” Lehmann said. “Students need to make sure they contact their teacher when mistakes are made, then a teacher can send me an email to make the correction.”

Lehmann also found that if a parent did not check Infinite Campus, they were unaware of their child’s absences.

“Kids that are skipping will be held accountable by parents for their presence. It’s important that parents are aware of where their children are, and kids need to be responsible for ensuring that,” Lehmann said.

Junior Lorenzo Knox sees responsibility a bit differently.

“We are the one going to school so it should be our choice. I don’t think its necessary,” Knox said. “Whether or not it will change kids attendance depends on the parents, if they care or not. I think it will affect me trouble wise, but not academically.”

Lehmann has seen an increase in parents reporting absences.

“It’s hard to tell whether the increase is due to a rise in illness or the new automated system,” Lehmann said.