On Friday, the Townsend Harris administration introduced a new web-based system that requires students to scan their IDs upon arrival to the school building.
According to an email sent to students by Assistant Principal Ellen Fee last Wednesday, “The system helps staff track who is in the building, where students are during the day, and whether they leave for Queens College through the back door.” The scanning system is called the “Comprehensive Attendance, Administration, and Security System” (CAASS). “We believe CAASS will help keep our school safer, make attendance and accountability more accurate, and ensure the back door is managed efficiently,” Ms. Fee wrote in the email.
Other high schools have also been using the CAASS system. This policy reflects a broader effort to address school safety. In her email, Ms. Fee wrote the system is intended to “help make our school safer and more organized.”
With CAASS, students must scan their school ID at the entrance each morning, and those who scan after 8:00 a.m. receive a printed tardy slip.
The system’s initial rollout caused some confusion for students who received tardy slips that listed fines on them.
Dean Charlene Levi said the fines shown on the slips were the result of a system glitch.
She said the new system will take time to implement as glitches like this surface. “Like everything, it is a learning process,” she said. “We’re getting a handle on it. We note what went wrong or what slowed us down and we’re working to fix those in real time.”
The first day of ID scanning led to long lines to enter the school during morning entry, which according to students, made some late for their first band class.
Sophomore Syeda Rahman said, “I arrived at around 7:55 am and ended up going to class at 8:18 am. When I went to class, I showed my teacher the slip and she marked me tardy.”
“The slip says I entered the school at 8:13, but I got here at 7:57,” said sophomore Hailey Tang. “It’s just not right.”
Students were also not sure what to do upon receiving their “tardy slip.”
“They didn’t tell me anything to do with the slip,” said sophomore Isabella Cohen. “They just said go to class, so I didn’t really know what I [was] doing.”
“If students get a tardy slip, they’re supposed to give it to their teacher when they enter the classroom, so the teachers can…change their attendance based on the slip, [marking] that they are tardy for class and at what time they came in,” Ms. Levi said.
As for the long lines, Ms. Levi said they would like to have an additional scanning station for things to run more quickly. She also said students need to have their scannable IDs on hand for the process to run more efficiently.
Attendance Coordinator Monica Albaracin, who was also present scanning in students, also emphasized the importance of students having their new, scannable IDs ready upon entry. “All the students have to have their new ID ready when they walk in the door,” she said.
“It’s going to be a lot faster for everybody, and it’s gonna make it a lot easier if we’re all ready and have the ID on hand,” said Ms. Albaracin.
This article was written and reported by our Band One Journalism Team: Robert Indart, Alexander Li, Showa Lie, Jordan Liu, Tajrian Noor, Krish Pamer, Nabeeha Saeed, Sena Shew, Benjamin Wilkinson, and Colton Yang
