Teachers create phone app to track student behavior

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When they first dreamed up this app more than four years ago, it was supposed to simply be a way to make teachers lives easier.

But after the Parkland school shooting and so many other threats across the country, the technology has pivoted -- a sign of the times.   

"I would like for as many schools as possible to use this so that they can really reap the benefits, not just of the lockdown procedure but all of the things we have created to make your teaching life easier," Matt Ridenour said.

Teachers Matt Ridenour and Josette Rechul created an app called TABS, tracking appropriate behaviors. Every student is accounted for in a school using this. They know where each and every person is and how long they've been gone. 

"With this app you can go ahead and click the student, click the behavior that's being exhibited and then later have that restorative conversation with the student. It saves the teacher all the extra time of filling out the extra paperwork," Rechul said.

Ridenour says their main focus is communication. 

"We want to get on the front edge of that crisis as fast as we possibly can and minimize the damage. We can't possibly stop everything from happening but what we can do is provide information up to date information as soon as possible so that schools can react and teachers can be as safe as they can be," he said.

But it is not just used as a tool for disciplinary action, it can also be used to help teachers cut down on paperwork and reward students good behavior. 

"We want to make sure that we're rewarding the kids that sometimes fall though the gaps. The kids who are doing the right thing on a daily basis," Rechul said.