Isabella Lagarto, William Albury

This year, along with various other changes, Miami Palmetto Senior High has introduced Florida Virtual School sign-out identification cards. FLVS, one of the many programs that MPSH’s curriculum offers, offers students the opportunity to take classes that the school does not offer through a virtual alternative. FLVS offers courses ranging from pre-calculus to Introduction to Hospitality and Tourism. 

FLVS allows students to take classes virtually, with a virtual teacher, within two options. They can take FLVS as an in-school period, usually during the first block of the day or the last block of the day. Alternatively, students can enroll in a FLVS FLEX course, where they take the class on their own time and at their own pace. At MPSH, the majority of students tend to take it as an in-school period, which permits them to work on the class from home. 

Students enrolled in the “in-person” option have different attendance policies depending on the time of their FLVS block. The morning class requires students to arrive at school at 9:15 a.m. to check in for attendance. In the afternoon — which tends to be the bigger class — students report to the cafeteria for attendance and check out at 12:15 p.m..

FLVS is a way for students to take classes that they find interest in, as well as a means to fill their graduation credit requirements. MPSH requires that students take one FLVS course as a graduation requirement, regardless of the method.

Ranging from over 100 students per class, taking attendance for each student and checking that they are on pace can be a demanding task. As a result, this year, the administration developed the FLVS sign-out ID: a student ID card with a barcode, allowing students to quickly scan out for attendance, reducing the time of the attendance process by several minutes.

“Every student has an ID number, that ID number corresponds to a barcode on their ID. So, what I did was make IDs for the student for FLVS, that has the period they have FLVS on so that security knows what period they’re supposed to be in. They can’t use it any other time during the day. And it has their ID number which I can scan. I then downloaded it to the computer and uploaded the grade book so their attendance is taken. So, for some of the classes, one of my FLVS classes has over 300 students in it. So of course to take that type of a role call, get everybody quiet would be very difficult, but to scan them out takes like 10 minutes, 15 minutes at most. So it’s made things easier for the students and for me,” FLVS Facilitator Steve Batten said. 

The scanners used for FLVS attendance were originally used for inventory of school laptops. When Batten scans each ID, the computer takes “inventory” of the students that are present and checks them out for the rest of the school day. That data is then uploaded to the grade book, automatically marking the students as present or absent. 

“We get on the scanning machines that we use for inventory, as they scan the IDs they scan the barcodes which gives the ID number of the student then the barcode reader drops all the IDs into the gradebook that were present everybody else’s marked absent,” Assistant Principal Jesus Tellechea said. 

The new IDs have created a newfound appreciation by administration and students alike.

“I was in FLVS last year, and it was done very well, but it was very hard for the administrator to get everyone’s attention, individually call everyone’s name, and it took a lot of time. With the IDs it’s very quick and easy, we settle down, show our progress, and scan out. We’re out of the cafeteria 10 minutes max,” junior Riley Rousso said.