JAY – The School Department plans to install an electronic time track system for hourly employees and substitutes by the end of fall.

The cost of the system, including installation, start-up, software and thumbprint sensor units for the three schools, is estimated at about $23,000, Superintendent Robert Wall said. But the cost is expected to be offset by an estimated $1,848 savings a month once the system has paid for itself.

Hourly employees, custodians, bus drivers, food service personnel, secretaries, education technicians and substitutes will be required to check in and out of work by placing their thumb over an electronic sensor unit.

It is a system by which people check into work and check out of work, Wall said, and instead of using paper time cards it is done electronically.

The Time Trak, a trademarked system, uses a sensor and sends the check-in time or check-out time goes to a computer.

“It is an automated system,” Wall said. “It’s an important record keeping device. We can access the information without using paper time cards. It collects data and calculates payable hours and transfers them to payroll.”

“It stores and tracks exceptions, including overtime, regular hours and benefit time, and also allows us to analyze the data in a more businesslike way,” he said.

He said it breaks down to about $90 an employee a year for start-up, setup, and hardware for the system.

It’s a question of accuracy of time and attendance data and good record-keeping of benefits, Wall said.

There would be a savings in clerical and data-entry time, as well as in overtime and the cost of supplies, he said.

He anticipates the system would also reduce absenteeism and tardiness, he said. The school system has a high rate of absenteeism and tardiness, he said.

The tracking system would lead to a better understanding of an employee’s hours and benefits and would provide a much better tracking method for reducing factors leading to work time lost, he said.

SAD 9 has used an electronic card swipe system from the same company to document time worked for hourly employees for nearly two years, SAD 9 Business Manager Kris Pottle said.

Employees’ photo badges have a bar code on the back of them, she said, allowing the district to keep track electronically.

“I think it works well,” Pottle said, once adjustments were made.

The system hasn’t saved the district money yet, she said, but she expects it to, once technology is worked out between two systems.