absences coded incorrectly in the MCPS portal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks. I called the school office, as there's definitely no email address on my kid's school's website marked "attendance secretary" and in fact, there is a person who serves that function. I assumed since the teacher is taking attendance of her kids, that she inputs the data but apparently not...

We aren't allowed to have anything to do with attendance in the database. I submit attendance daily to the secretary but that's where my responsibility ends. We just pass on absence notes to the secretary who codes them in the system.



-a teacher

Yes, but you note down the kids who are out sick (because parents told you they were out) and which ones just didn't show up, right? I've also had issues when my kid was marked absent when I had emailed the teacher he was sick and wasn't sure if it was the teacher's fault for not noting he was sick or the attendance secretary for incorrect data entry.

No, that's not how it works.

Teachers have nothing to do with the excused/unexcused notations. There isn't even a place in the system to make a note like that. You just mark present/tardy/absent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the type of thing that MCPS should inform parents of during kindergarten orientation, but they don't.

There's a 99% chance that they did say it, or it's on the school's website, or in the directory/handbook and the parents just don't bother to listen or read it because if it's not spoonfed to them, then it's someone else's fault that they can't be bothered to click any links or figure it out. Parents have somehow known to call the school office since there were schools with offices and phones, but yeah, it's MCPS's fault. And when the same problem keeps happening over and over again with the absence being coded incorrectly, don't wonder if maybe you are doing something wrong, just keep doing the same thing.

This is like that thread with the person who had some ridiculous amount of EZPass fines because they'd had it set up wrong for months, and of course it was EZPass's fault that the driver didn't wonder why 50 transactions hadn't been charged. Because everything is someone else's responsibility and nobody should have to figure anything out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have worked at an ES and HS in MCPS.

ES the teachers send a folder to the attendance secretary who enters the data.

HS, teachers are supposed to enter absent or present every day (notice I said supposed to, doesn't mean they do), stays that way until attendance secretary gets a note. At that point, attendance secretary can change from absent to illness, excused absense, etc.

And/or, appeal can be made to an administrator (AP by grade in HS), in which case the AP will tell the attendance secretary to change the code.

ES does attendance in the online grade book now. No folders go to the attendance secretary anymore. We can only mark absent, tardy or present. No space for notes or any other information. -ES teacher

Same for MS and at my school, we’re not even allowed to handle the note from home any more. I have to send the child to the office to turn it in.

[Anonymous]

I have tried to email the attendance secretary at my DD’s middle school and she still makes me write a handwritten note.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the type of thing that MCPS should inform parents of during kindergarten orientation, but they don't.

There's a 99% chance that they did say it, or it's on the school's website, or in the directory/handbook and the parents just don't bother to listen or read it because if it's not spoonfed to them, then it's someone else's fault that they can't be bothered to click any links or figure it out. Parents have somehow known to call the school office since there were schools with offices and phones, but yeah, it's MCPS's fault. And when the same problem keeps happening over and over again with the absence being coded incorrectly, don't wonder if maybe you are doing something wrong, just keep doing the same thing.

This is like that thread with the person who had some ridiculous amount of EZPass fines because they'd had it set up wrong for months, and of course it was EZPass's fault that the driver didn't wonder why 50 transactions hadn't been charged. Because everything is someone else's responsibility and nobody should have to figure anything out.

Or maybe MCPS should take some of it’s huge technology budget and find a more modern way to manage attendance. It’s embarassing that in 2018 that there’s a job for an attendance secretary to do data entry when that’s something that could be relatively easily captured by the teacher who has face to face contact with her kids each day. Cut that job and get more aides into classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the type of thing that MCPS should inform parents of during kindergarten orientation, but they don't.

There's a 99% chance that they did say it, or it's on the school's website, or in the directory/handbook and the parents just don't bother to listen or read it because if it's not spoonfed to them, then it's someone else's fault that they can't be bothered to click any links or figure it out. Parents have somehow known to call the school office since there were schools with offices and phones, but yeah, it's MCPS's fault. And when the same problem keeps happening over and over again with the absence being coded incorrectly, don't wonder if maybe you are doing something wrong, just keep doing the same thing.

This is like that thread with the person who had some ridiculous amount of EZPass fines because they'd had it set up wrong for months, and of course it was EZPass's fault that the driver didn't wonder why 50 transactions hadn't been charged. Because everything is someone else's responsibility and nobody should have to figure anything out.

Or maybe MCPS should take some of it’s huge technology budget and find a more modern way to manage attendance. It’s embarassing that in 2018 that there’s a job for an attendance secretary to do data entry when that’s something that could be relatively easily captured by the teacher who has face to face contact with her kids each day. Cut that job and get more aides into classrooms.

Sure, let's add even more to the teachers' plates. Who needs an attendance secretary when the teacher can just be the attendance secretary, right? You have no idea what the job of the attendance secretary entails. Certainly more than just marking kids present or absent each day. I'm all for trimming the fat, but the attendance secretary is not fat to be trimmed.

Now the payroll process? Ridiculous that the timesheets are still pencil and paper and the administrative secretary at each school has to do the payroll by hand every two weeks. Time to automate that crap.

[Anonymous]

They want handwritten notes and not emails, because our high school kids are pretty darn smart. They create new fake email addresses, the Smith family at gmail.com. Then they send in a note themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous[b wrote:]They want handwritten notes and not emails, because our high school kids are pretty darn smart. [/b]They create new fake email addresses, the Smith family at gmail.com. Then they send in a note themselves.

Forging notes were around long before email. It should not make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Just leave it alone, it doesn't matter....My DC still shows as "unexcused absence" for the days he was at Outdoor Ed. After several calls/emails to the school, I gave up trying to get it fixed. i

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just leave it alone, it doesn't matter....My DC still shows as "unexcused absence" for the days he was at Outdoor Ed. After several calls/emails to the school, I gave up trying to get it fixed. i

For some kids, it will matter and it's worth fixing. After 10 absences of so, you start getting calls from the school social worker.

[Anonymous]

If you write your kid’s teacher and cc the attendance secretary that your child is out due to an illness the secretary will mark it as excused but by the end of the quarter if there is not a valid note from a dentist, doctor, etc. It could be changed automatically in the system. I also email the attendance secretary if a student comes in from being “sick” but they were really on vacation to Disney world. Most kids come in bragging about how much fun they had while being out “sick”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks. I called the school office, as there's definitely no email address on my kid's school's website marked "attendance secretary" and in fact, there is a person who serves that function. I assumed since the teacher is taking attendance of her kids, that she inputs the data but apparently not...

We aren't allowed to have anything to do with attendance in the database. I submit attendance daily to the secretary but that's where my responsibility ends. We just pass on absence notes to the secretary who codes them in the system.



-a teacher

Yes, but you note down the kids who are out sick (because parents told you they were out) and which ones just didn't show up, right? I've also had issues when my kid was marked absent when I had emailed the teacher he was sick and wasn't sure if it was the teacher's fault for not noting he was sick or the attendance secretary for incorrect data entry.

Another teacher here. We can mark absent, tardy or present. There is no space to put the reason or make notes of any kind. That needs to go to the office. It’s a nice to know for that teacher but the teacher doesn’t do anything with that information. When I email my kid’s school about absences I email the attendance secretary and CC the teacher. Two birds, one stone.

yes
same

If a kid is not present, s/he is absent for that class. (I'm secondary.) If s/he arrives late with an excused pass/note, I mark it as such. But I have no control over who's documenting an entire day's absence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just leave it alone, it doesn't matter....My DC still shows as "unexcused absence" for the days he was at Outdoor Ed. After several calls/emails to the school, I gave up trying to get it fixed. i

For some kids, it will matter and it's worth fixing. After 10 absences of so, you start getting calls from the school social worker.

eh

Nothing counts in middle school . . .

ever

high school - a little tougher but not by much

Attendance is a joke these days (as are grades).