Watauga’s closed attendance office. Photo Credits: Jaxson Marsh.
Jaxson Marsh, Staff Writer to The Powderhorn
As many students have noticed, Watauga High School’s attendance office has been vacant for the majority of the 2024-2025 school year, with Ms. Molly Russell joining the staff only recently. Long-time attendance officer, Kristi Pukansky, moved on to an emergency management position, dispatching officers and firefighters all over Boone. With the attendance office empty, Watauga administration formed a plan to account for all of the difficult tasks that Ms. Pukansky did on a daily basis. However, even with this efficient plan, Ms. Pukansky’s presence remains dearly missed throughout the school building.
“She handled all the attendance for the school which was a huge job,” said Machon, Assistant Principal of Watauga. “It was a lot of making sure that attendance has different codes and that they were coded correctly. If you were out sick, it's coded differently than if it were unexcused, or if you have a doctor's note.”
Ms. Pukansky filled out countless complex codes daily. Her role as the attendance officer at the high school managed approximately 1600 students throughout the past seven years. Responsible for handling attendance codes for each student, she imputed different codes for various absence reasons, adding a new level of difficulty to the already challenging job.
“If students are here, we need to make sure that they're accounted for, and that's why we also take attendance per block,” said Machon. “That way we know these students are where they're supposed to be, and then if there were any sort of emergency, we would know ‘These kids are here; these kids are not here,’. That's ultimately why attendance is important, besides you have to be at school to learn, right? That's the most important part.”
Following Ms. Pukansky’s departure, the Watauga administration team has stepped up to manage attendance during this interim period. However, none of it could have been done without the collaboration and hard work from faculty members. Ms. Ginger, Ms. Carson, Dr. Schleede, and Ms. Isaacs have been doing an excellent job directing checkouts, filing notes, and training teachers to get support with Infinite Campus. The technology and IT staff have also ensured accurate attendance records by cross-referencing all the different computing systems.
Machon has only positive remarks about Ms. Pukansky and her time working at Watauga. Her impact at Watauga was extremely significant and will be remembered by every student and teacher alike.
“Ms. Pukansky always had a positive attitude. She was always very, in a sense, bubbly; she was always willing to crack a joke,” said Machon. “She always had a smile on her face, which is super important as she was one of the first faces that gets seen when you come into the school.”
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