Not attending classes will have a new consequence for Austin Independent School District students because of a new program called AIM Truancy.
Due to student absences costing AISD $45 per absent student, AISD has recently teamed up with AIM Truancy solutions, a Dallas-based company, in hopes of raising the attendance levels in AISD schools.
AIM Truancy provides GPS tracking systems that are being incorporated into volunteering students’ daily lives. The district requires absent students to carry an AIM Truancy tracker and have the student press a button to show where they are and that they made it to class. If the student is not in class the district is able to use the GPS tracking device find the student and make sure that they come to school.
Attendance enforcers such as school principals believe that this device could really help student achieve their full educational potential.
“I think that the attendance rates for students would go up, and kids would get their education and that’s the most important thing,” assistant principal Juan Gonzales said. “Some students lack the self discipline and need the extra help to be able to complete their education and take some value from that education, and this program can help them.”
Many school districts in the United States like Palo Heights, Illinois, Baltimore, Maryland, and Anaheim, California are either teaming up with AIM Truancy solutions or are using a device similar to AIM Truancy’s tracker in order to locate students for diverse reasons from attendance and security, to eating habits and theft.
The purpose of this innovative way of attendance in AISD is to cut the number of student absences in the district in order to save the district time and money and to help students stay in school in order to have a better future.
For Akins attendance clerk this idea is a great way to achieve higher student attendance rates.
“I believe the tracker will keep students in school, and that it will help students know that if you don’t get to school you will have to go to court,” attendance clerk Gloria Urbizu said. “So I think it is a good idea as far as letting the student know how important it is to come to school,”
Although, not everyone thinks that the AIM Truancy tracker is a good idea.
“I think it is strictly a violation and invasion of students privacy and I don’t think anyone should be subject to tracking,” senior Jose Chavez said. “ I think it should be aimed for people who have high absent rates because other students with good attendance will be less influenced to go to school to avoid themselves being tracked.”
Parents are also worried about the safety of the AIM Truancy tracker due to their child’s location and data being known.
“My biggest concern is if you go to mandatory tracking of students who has access to the students data and what could it be used for,” parent Bonnie Hauser said. “I want to know how secure my child’s data is because I want my child to be safe.”
Although there is still debate about the tracker, AISD will continue to test the tracker on voluntary students, and maybe one day incorporate the tracker into the districts attendance system.
