Key Outcomes
- All attendance reporting now completed by the end of the first class period (previously mid-second period)
- Significant drop in morning attendance-related phone calls from parents
- Parents actively using Orah Forms to submit absences, request student leave and communicate changes
- Attendance processes now require fewer manual steps across faculty and admin teams
Background
Nichols School is a prestigious independent school in Buffalo, New York, serving grades 5–12. With students coming from across Western New York—including Erie, Niagara, and Cleveland Hill Counties—Nichols operates two separate buildings for middle and upper school.
Ashley White, the Administrative Assistant for the Middle School, plays a key role in keeping daily operations running smoothly. Known on campus as "the powerhouse," she works closely with students, parents, and faculty every day—especially when it comes to attendance.
“Before Orah, we were constantly juggling calls, emails, and paper processes. Parents had to call or email to report absences, and things would get missed,” Ashley explained. “Now they can just tap a few buttons in the app, and we have everything we need. It’s made a huge difference.”
Manual Systems and Missed Requests Were Slowing Everyone Down
Prior to implementing Orah, Nichols School used Blackbaud to manage attendance. While the system offered reporting features, it required a lot of manual effort.
“It wasn’t very user friendly,” Ashley said. “There were too many clicks, too many windows, and a lot of manual data entry. It worked, but it definitely slowed us down.”
Staff had to remember to print attendance sheets if covering classes, manually input absences, and chase updates from parents. Morning call volume was high, and last-minute parent notes often got buried in email threads.
“Sometimes a parent would show up to pick up their child, and we wouldn’t even have the request on file yet,” Ashley added. “That’s stressful for them and for us.”
Now? Efficient & Real-Time Attendance
Once Orah was introduced, the benefits were immediate. Parents could submit absences, early pickups, or late arrivals directly in the app. Faculty could see up-to-date information instantly.
“We’ve always had an open-book policy at Nichols—parents can see grades, attendance, everything. Orah just made that transparency easier to manage,” Ashley shared. “It’s visually clear, user-friendly, and works for everyone.”
One major improvement was the ability to customize roll codes. “We needed more than just ‘absent’ or ‘present,’” she explained. “Now we can show if a student is out sick, at a game, or in the health office—and it’s color-coded, which helps everyone across campus know what’s going on.”
Ashley also noted that the transition from Blackbaud to Orah was smooth overall, but emphasized the importance of setting up roll codes and statuses ahead of time. “If we had done that before the year started, it would’ve been even smoother. But once it was configured, everything clicked into place.”
Smoother Mornings, Better Communication, and Happy Parents
Since implementing Orah, attendance tracking at Nichols School has become faster, clearer, and far less manual. Ashley now runs daily attendance reports with just two clicks, cutting down her morning process by nearly half.
“I used to be chasing down the attendance report well into second period. Now I have it ready by the end of the first,” she said.
“Jumping over to Orah was a little bit of a breath of fresh air because now parents are able to submit their attendance rather than having to call or send an email, which sometimes gets missed.”
Faculty covering classes no longer need to print paper rolls Logged absences automatically show up on rolls so teachers know if a student is not expected in class.. “It’s all there digitally—they just open the extension and take roll. It’s simple.”
Parents are more engaged and less reliant on calls or emails. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk to them,” Ashley laughed, “but we’ve definitely cut down the number of phone calls we get every morning. That’s time back in everyone’s day.”
The system has even helped with last-minute dismissals. “I get a ping when a parent submits a request. I don’t miss anything anymore—it’s all right there.”
Continuing to Fine-Tune for Even Better Parent Experience
At Orah, we're always looking to improve our systems and look to feedback from independent schools to inform our roadmap.
Ashley shared some small ways to make the system even more intuitive for parents, like adding prompts to help them input times more accurately, which we've taken onboard.
Ashley notes, “We’re still learning and tweaking things, but the support team at Orah is always quick to respond. We’re figuring it out together.”
To Independent Schools Considering Orah
To other independent schools considering Orah, Ashley’s advice is simple: “Take the chance. It’s adaptable, it’s easy to use, and the support is amazing. It really has made our workday smoother. Our parents are really enjoying Orah too because [it’s] allowing them to do things on their own and not have to wait for a response, or wait for their child with the request. It's also adaptable, things can be changed and updated and work for your campus. So give it a try. It's worth it.”
