While these first few weeks back at school for the students of Niles North have been somewhat of a drag, they have been nothing but excitement for Kristen Paul, North’s new associate dean of attendance.

Prior to this year, Paul taught English for nine years at Antioch High School. She received her Bachelor’s degree in secondary education and Master’s degrees in both special education and administration from Trinity University and Northeastern University.

The associate dean of attendance is a new position to the 2013-2014 school year. Before, it was part of the deans’ jobs as well. To alleviate some of the stress off of their workload, Paul will now be handling the attendance side of their work, while the three deans focus on discipline.

With this new title appointed to her, it is Paul’s job to make sure students are going to class, and most importantly, getting there on time. She is a firm believer that attendance correlates to higher test scores and better grades, and it is her goal this year to enforce that motto.

One of Paul’s newest changes in the way attendance is run here at North is the new system of clearing absences and lockouts. In previous years, students who had been wrongly marked absent had to have a teacher sign a form saying that they were in class and then return that form to the attendance office. This year, teachers will be notified via a Google form in their mailbox each morning with a list of the students on lockout, and students will be cleared in that fashion.

Coming from a place much different than Skokie, it’s not just the attendance side of her job that Paul is looking forward to while working here at North. “This is a new area for

me. There are so many different likes, interests and cultures at this school, and I’m excited to meet the parents, students and community and learn all of that about them,” she said.

“It’s a great time to be part of a school that is always progressing.”