This year a school I work with enabled the parent submitted attendance feature. We are seeing that one grade (4th) is locking attendance at 8:02 every morning. None of hte others are. I found some documentation that points to school level cutoff settings and locking at a certain time if not submitted.
However, with the new attendance model, the ways to check this or turn it off are not available to me at least. does this sound familiar to anyone else or are you seeing this behavior?
DOCUMENTATION
Blackbaud automatically defaults unsubmitted class or homeroom attendance to "present" or auto-submits a default status once the scheduled time or cutoff threshold passes for that specific grade level. [1]Why This Happens
- Default Settings: If a teacher or homeroom helper does not manually log attendance by a specific time of day, system rules or scheduled tasks often lock or mark the roster as all-present by default.
- Attendance of Record: For 1st-grade configurations, schools typically select an Attendance Record Method tied to a specific meeting time (like homeroom or first period). When that time expires, the system triggers a final status. [1]
- Locked Seating or Rosters: If the teacher previously saved an "all present" template or set an automated lock time in Blackbaud Education Management, the entry records at the exact same timestamp every day. [1]
How to Fix or Change It
- Navigate to Academics (or Core) > Attendance > Settings > Record Method.
- Locate the 1st-grade school level and review the cutoff times or default auto-submit configurations. **We dont have school level auto cut off times. Maybe old documentation?
- Contact your internal Attendance Manager or Platform Administrator if you need to adjust when attendance locks or change whether blank entries auto-submit as present. [1, 2]
If you want to change this behavior, let me know:
Attendance manager - stop auto submission: To stop the auto-submission or auto-save of blank attendance in Blackbaud, you need to adjust your school level attendance setup and ensure your integration/refresh tasks are not overriding unsubmitted data.In Blackbaud, if a teacher does not submit attendance, the system does not technically have an explicit "auto-submit" toggle. Instead, it marks unsubmitted students with a default status (like "Present") or locks the day based on the Attendance of Record and refresh configurations.1. Disable "Default to Present" or Status CutoffsIf the system is automatically filling in and submitting blanks at a specific time:
- Navigate to Academics > Attendance > Attendance Setup.
- Click on School Levels and select the level corresponding to 1st Grade (e.g., Lower School / Elementary).
- Review your Attendance Type settings (Class vs. Homeroom).
- Locate the Attendance of Record mapping. If a specific class or homeroom period is forced to lock at a set time, look for the rule that dictates what happens to blank entries. If there is a default status filling in automatically, change or clear the default automated fill settings.
2. Check the Attendance Refresh Scheduled TaskBlackbaud often runs a daily backend task that pulls or synchronizes attendance statuses, which can look like an automated submission at the exact same time every day:
- Go to Core or Academics > Settings > Data Refresh / Scheduled Tasks.
- Look for any automated tasks related to Attendance Refresh, Day Setup, or SIS Syncs that run at that specific daily timestamp.
- If this task is forcing unrecorded attendance to a locked state, you will need to adjust the execution time or modify the task parameters to stop it from filling in unsubmitted records.
3. Adjust the Recording WindowIf you cannot completely disable the automation due to school policy, you can push the window out so teachers have more time:
- Go to Academics > Attendance > Attendance Setup > School Levels.
- Edit the Recording Window.
- Extend the Cutoff Time to the end of the school day or remove the strict cutoff time to prevent the system from auto-locking and finalizing the records prematurely.
To help narrow down the exact setting, let me know:
- Is your 1st-grade attendance tracked by Homeroom or Individual Class Periods?
- Is the system filling them in as "Present", or is it just locking the screen so teachers can no longer enter it?
