Pahrump Valley High asks public for help with software

Pahrump Valley High School is looking for some community support to buy some much-needed software that they feel could help out with discipline at the school.

According to high school science teacher Robin Williams, the school is trying to purchase a cloud-based behavior tracking system called Hero and the software would cost the school around $12,000.

The goal of the school is to get enough community support to pay for half of it by the second semester.

The system will allow administrators and teachers to reward students. Williams said this program will help the school to focus on the positive side of behavior.

"We would like to have a rewards center or store where the community would donate prizes like an iPad or laptop computer," the teacher said. "Students would then gain points for good behavior. A teacher could use his phone app or scanner to reward students from anywhere on campus. The system would keep track of the points and students could earn prizes from the store through the points."

Of course the system will also allow the school to keep tabs on the bad things students do.

It can scan in tardies, hall passes and any behavior problems. This will allow quick access to this information.

"A teacher could use a phone application or a portable scanner to access any of this information," Williams said. "So let's say a student is wandering the hall and is stopped by a teacher. All the teacher has to do is scan the student identification and it will tell the teacher how long ago the student left the classroom."

He said the system will not only help with tracking behavior issues but also helps to keep track of on-campus visitors to improve school security. With many schools rebounding from recent attacks of schools in the news, this system can definitely help out.

"All we have to do is scan the driver's license into our system," he said. "It will also tell us if the visitor is on a watch list of some kind."

When asked how high school students respond to the use of point systems, Williams was honest and replied, "It's a hard sell for high school-aged students but high schools that have purchased the system support it and say it's been successful."

Donations can be made at the school by check at the school office and the school has set up a gofundme account at the following link: https://www.gofundme.com/PositivePVHS

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @vernheepvt