District updates use of Omella activity platform; board presses for SOP and audit steps

Christy, a district activities staff member, told the Board of Education on April 14 that the district has expanded use of the Omella (sometimes pronounced “Omelet” in the presentation) platform at the secondary level to track club check‑ins/check‑outs, sell event tickets and collect forms and payments. She said the district used Omella for homecoming and prom ticket sales, a club interest survey at “Welcome to High School Night,” blood‑drive check‑ins, service‑hour tracking for honor societies and booster fundraising sales. She said sponsors most often distribute a single laminated QR code for each club meeting and students scan to check in; check‑out scans produce timestamps the district can use to verify locations when a student attends multiple activities in a single day.

The software’s sponsor view and export options are already in use, Christy said, and produce Google Sheets or Excel files and a built‑in Omella export. She said customer support from Omella has been “delightful,” with a rapid response window and event‑time troubleshooting offered by the vendor. For a first use at the high school homecoming dance, Christy said the district checked in about 500 students in under 15 minutes using the QR system and multiple check‑in lines.

Board members asked a series of operational and data‑quality questions that the presentation did not fully resolve. “If we’re going to use this to report data, then we need to have an operating procedure in place,” said Member Negrete McGinley, pressing for consistent sponsor audits and data checks. Member Larson raised the risk that a student could photograph a QR code and have another person scan in for them; Christy said sponsor monitoring and hallway supervision have reduced that problem. Missus Klingler asked about credit‑card fees for online sales; Christy replied the district currently absorbs card fees and that fees vary by card brand and she would provide a precise breakdown to the board.

Christy committed to follow‑up items the board requested: a written standard operating procedure (SOP) for how clubs and sponsors must use Omella, guidance on sponsor auditing of attendance exports, and a timetable for implementing those procedures. When asked for a deadline, Christy said she could produce the SOP within about three weeks and provide interim updates to the board via the weekly report. The presentation also included planned next steps: phased elementary rollout (starting with grades 3–5), expanded use for summer‑program registration, bus volunteer signups, theater seating proposals and additional custom spreadsheets for prom (bus assignments, meal counts, T‑shirt orders).

The board’s questions emphasized the difference between technical capability and consistent practice. Several members urged that sponsors be trained to review attendance exports regularly and that administration define an audit cadence so the attendance data can be trusted for decisions such as stipend justification. Christy said she and the vendor are already designing custom spreadsheets for prom bus rosters, meal tallies and post‑prom lists and that Omella offers event‑time support.

The presentation closed with board direction to deliver the SOP and a short implementation timeline to the board and to circulate exact credit‑card fee figures.