Dayton Public Schools (DPS) covers about 53 square miles in Dayton, Ohio. The school system is comprised of 30 school buildings and special centers with approximately 15,000 students in pre-kindergarten through high school. An urban district, DPS brings innovative students and teachers together to develop productive citizens ready to serve their communities. Core to achieving their mission is ensuring first, that students arrive at their school and at their classes, on time and ready to learn.

DPS had a wide variety of, and in some cases a lack of, ID system capabilities throughout the district. This made it difficult to implement standard process improvements that would speed the creation of new IDs at the beginning of each school year. Additionally, DPS needed to expedite the check-in of tardy students thus allowing them to arrive at their classes faster. For managing tardy students, the schools traditionally used manual processes with handwritten passes which were inefficient and caused unnecessary delays if multiple students came to school late.

Seeking to streamline processes, the school district realized that it needed to institute a universal, mandatory student ID system that allowed them to improve student attendance across the district while enhancing the security of its students and visitors.

Solutions

While attending the Ohio eTech conference in early 2011, DPS learned about PlascoID, an authorized HID Global FARGO® integrator and leading provider of card-based ID systems. PlascoID showed DPS HID’s FARGO desktop card printers and their automated student-tracking management system, PlascoTrac, as a possible solution to the challenges the school system was facing. Because the printers and software integrated seamlessly with eSchoolPlus, the school system’s existing Web-based student-information system, DPS selected PlascoID to help streamline its attendance processes.

Genuine HID® products including the DTC4500 card printer/encoder, non-technology cards and Asure ID Enterprise card personalization software were recommended by PlascoID to support the creation of efficient, multipurpose IDs. HID Global’s Asure ID software would enable the school system to create customized student ID cards while the DTC4500 printers would allow campus officials at each school location to instantly issue all student IDs.

The printer’s modular design and small footprint were also ideal features for the school environment where space is at a premium. Prior to the start of the 2012 school year DPS implemented the solution over the course of just two weeks, installing the PlascoTrac system with 31 DTC4500 printers and Asure ID Enterprise software so it could be used on the first day of the new academic year.

With the new DTC4500 printers and Asure ID software, DPS can now:

Print a high volume of cards at fast print speeds. Every year, 15,000 IDs are needed by DPS in just the first week of school. The DTC4500 meets this challenge by quickly and reliably producing large quantities of cards with high-quality images. Able to withstand the day-to-day wear and tear by students these new IDs are now also uniform in image quality, design and durability.

Save money and training time. The modestly priced DTC4500 has an intuitive set up and is easy to use. Already optimized for organizations like DPS, the printer is a high-security, high-performance ID issuance system that doesn’t require large capital investments or extensive training by system operators.

Prepare for future ID card needs. The DTC4500 is field upgradeable. As their student ID system changes and evolves, DPS can modify their printers to fit new requirements.

Achieve multiple uses with a single software application. With Asure ID Enterprise software, DPS is able to easily design card templates, enter student data and create photo ID badges. Additionally, Asure ID’s LiveLink™ capability enables the schools to sync student ID badge data with attendance data in PlascoTrac, and with student records in eSchoolPLUS.™

Results

With this combined solution from PlascoID and HID Global, DPS can now easily and quickly provide all students with IDs during the first week of the new school year. And when a student loses his or her badge, or is newly enrolled in school, a new ID can be created and issued that same day. The newly designed DPS student ID is a white card featuring the district’s logo and mission statement. New visual security elements include a large color photo of the student and his/her name printed in large font on the front of the card, so school personnel can easily identify individuals. Additionally, the ID now includes a barcode that is used in  conjunction with the PlascoTrac system. So when a student arrives late to school or is tardy to a class, they are scanned into PlascoTrac and a tardy pass is printed automatically. With this brand new student ID system, processing tardy students now takes 25 to 35 percent less time than before, enabling DPS students to spend more time in class while reducing the administrative burden of its staff. In addition to addressing their original challenges, DPS has now found that the new HID and Plasco ID card solution gives them even greater functionality and versatility. Some schools have even tied the new ID cards to their media center for checking out books or tracking lunches purchased in the cafeteria. Elementary schools are even exploring ways to use the IDs to encourage positive reinforcement of good behaviors.

“We are extremely satisfied with how adaptable the solution is on a per-school basis,” said Richard Melson, director of The Office of Information Technology at Dayton Public Schools.

“Initially the principals had one vision of how things were going to work and now that they have the technology in their possession, they each use it a little differently based on specific needs of their school.”

In the near future, DPS expects to expand its use of the HID Global card issuance/PlascoTrac solution to keep track of visitors. Currently the district provides printed temporary ID passes, but it plans to eventually incorporate scanning of government IDs, such as a driver’s license, before granting visitors entry.

Top Reasons Why DPS Chose HID Global’s DTC4500 Printer and Asure ID Software

1. Printer supports new, uniform districtwide student ID system.

2. Fast printing of high quality IDs at each school location.

3. Durable and versatile ID cards.

4. User-friendly interface.

5. Easy to integrate with other school applications.