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CHSD 99 makes attendance the district priority; rolls out minute-level Infinite Campus scanning
Summary
At a June board meeting, CHSD 99 administrators presented a strategic plan that places attendance at the center of district work next year and described a districtwide roll-out of Infinite Campus minute-based scanning, classroom scanners and linked interventions.
CHSD 99 administrators told the Board of Education on June 16 that the district will make improving student attendance the central aim of its strategic work next school year and will expand use of Infinite Campus scanning to track minute-level attendance.
Superintendent Hank presented the district’s high-level strategic plan and said the next year’s statement of work focuses on attendance paired with “appropriate interventions and supports.” He said the district will monitor attendance, grades and interventions and report to the board on progress.
The administration described a shift to minute-based attendance tracking in Infinite Campus rather than the period-only system used previously. That change will treat arrivals more granularly: a student marked tardy for the first 10 minutes of a period will be recorded as tardy; after the tenth minute the system will treat the time as an absence. Travis, who is overseeing attendance work, said the district piloted scanning late in the school year and during summer programs and that “the kids picked up on it real quick.”
The district described three technical elements of the roll-out: building entry scanning (to record who is in a building), classroom scanners (for teachers to record in-class presence) and an eventual Infinite Campus hall-pass function that could follow in a later phase. Travis said scanners will be installed in every classroom and that teachers will be trained during institute days at the start of the year; the district will slow-roll full functionality and keep legacy paper passes in place while staff adapt.
Administrators emphasized that the new system is intended to detect attendance problems earlier and connect students to tiered interventions. The plan calls for: routine teacher-level (tier 1) interventions for students earning below a C; escalation to tier 2 and 3 supports where attendance or multiple low grades persist; and dashboards for real-time monitoring. “You gotta show up to win,” Hank said in summarizing the district’s objective for student attendance.
Board members asked about practical impacts. The minute-based approach can change reported rates initially, administrators warned, and the district will monitor shifts in metrics as scanning becomes routine. The district also said it will provide multiple scanning options for students: physical ID, a digital ID image, or the Infinite Campus student portal app; staff reported a large share of students used the app in the pilot. Administrators said they will hold working lunches and hands-on training sessions for staff, and that summer-school pilots were used to work out early problems.
The district framed the plan as the first step of a multi-year effort: attendance metrics will be tracked year-to-year and reported to the board; a senior cabinet check-in is planned July 15 and a public report at the July 28 board meeting.
Ending
District leaders said the minute-based scanning and the reinforced intervention structure aim to identify absences earlier and to move students to supports sooner. The board did not take a formal vote specifically to adopt the attendance strategy at the June meeting; administrators said they will return with metrics and implementation updates during the summer and in the fall.
