Case Study: Danville Public Schools

Background

Regional School Unit 25 (RSU 25) serves the communities of Bucksport, Orland, Prospect, and Verona Island on Maine’s Penobscot Bay, with just over 1,000 students in grades Pre-K–12 and a full-service adult education program. Bucksport High School, home of the Golden Bucks, anchors the district and serves roughly approximately 400 students in a rural setting.

In that context, every system has to work for a small, close-knit community, with limited central-office staff and a small-but-mighty technology team. We recently spoke with two RSU 25 leaders:

Katie Gourley, Business Manager, who oversees payroll and “all that includes.”
Jim Morrill, Director of Technology and Media Services, who describes himself as “the plugs and wires guy who makes sure the systems work on our end.”

RSU 25 had already tried multiple employee time and attendance systems. As Katie put it later, “This will actually be our third program for time tracking.” It turns out the third time was the charm to finally solve the real problems.

Problem: An expensive partial system, paper everywhere, and rising hardware costs

Before Red Rover and Touchpoint, RSU 25 was using another vendor’s solution that never covered everyone and never fully eliminated paper.

On the payroll side, Katie sums up the messy reality very simply:

“It was done through a mix of ways.”

Some staff were on electronic timecards, but many were not. Costly software fees and licensing limits meant the district could afford seats for only a portion of employees, and many employees had to stay on paper. When they decided it was time to move on, Katie’s priorities were blunt:

“We decided to make a change. The main reason was money. The other solution had gotten very expensive. We were very limited on the number of users that we were allowed to have.”

That limitation showed up in payroll processing. Even with an “electronic” time solution in place at the district, Katie was still processing a stack of paper time sheets every cycle.

“I would say, like 30 a pay period.”

Substitute management was still completely manual, too:

“Before substitute management software, we had secretaries, notebooks, and a spreadsheet. We did not have that as a digital solution.”

On the technology side, Jim was staring at a different set of problems.

“From a technology standpoint, the biggest pain point was cost. The previous system we used, we purchased the time clocks, and they had a mandatory 25% of initial costs you had to pay each year for support. If you didn't pay that, they terminated the clock!”

“It was absolutely draining us fiscally.”

Despite being hamstrung by the time and attendance system costs, Katie also knew a digital absence management tool was needed

“The other thing on the horizon was we knew that we needed a tool for absence management.”

Which meant, if they were not careful, they could end up paying heavily in dollars and time for:

One system for time tracking, plus hardware and support,
Another system for absence and substitute management,
And paper timecards for everyone left out.

They wanted one integrated solution instead of a patchwork.

Solution: Red Rover with Touchpoint SmartClocks, not DIY kiosks or mobile-only

Choosing Red Rover for time, absence, and subs

In their search for a better solution, RSU 25 first encountered Red Rover at a regional conference. At that point, the district wasn’t shopping for just a time clock replacement. They were looking for an integrated K-12 platform that could handle time, absence, and sub management together.

Red Rover’s K-12 focus, integrated software approach, and affordable licensing let them bring all district staff, subs, and part-time employees into one system instead of splitting them across multiple software systems and paper.

On the technology side, Jim appreciated the flexibility of the modern software solution immediately:

“We actually jumped into the Red Rover solution very excitedly because it's a browser-based solution for the time clock.”

A browser-based system meant staff could clock from dedicated devices, desktops, or mobile, depending on the scenario. That flexibility is what made the next decision critical.

IT’s original plan: repurpose Chromebooks and laptops, including 3D-printed wall mounts

When Jim first saw Red Rover’s browser-based clock, he did what any resourceful IT director in a small district would do. He planned to avoid buying new hardware:

“We liked the Red Rover dedicated web app and how efficient it was on their side and how quickly you can roll things out.”

He focused on using whatever unused equipment RSU 25 already had, including old desktop computers and spare Chromebooks, but the team started to run into challenges putting those devices into service as hallway kiosks.

“Once we were ready to deploy the software, using existing equipment actually became the issue. For instance, I have two versions of this Chromebook and here we're going to do a PC with a 24-inch screen. We needed to make those connect without failure. And we were going to have to get them mounted to the wall.”

“We were even looking at 3D printing tools, to create our own wall mounts for Chromebooks.”

Their DIY plan for a “Frankenstein” hardware solution would save immediately on dedicated clocks, but it would push long-term support, troubleshooting, and device replacement back onto Jim’s small IT team.

Pivot to dedicated Touchpoint SmartClocks

Before committing to their creative Chromebook-and-PC plan, Jim asked a key question:

“I was speaking to my Red Rover rep and said, ‘Do you have any hardware partners?’”

That question is how RSU 25 met Touchpoint.

After an initial introduction to Touchpoint, instead of building their own kiosks, RSU 25 chose Touchpoint’s badge-scanning SmartClocks that come pre-integrated with Red Rover. Dedicated time clocks solved several problems at once:

Purpose-built devices instead of improvising with carts, laptops, and 3D printed wall mounts
POE-ready, wall-mounted clocks that do not rely on batteries or staff keeping browsers open
A clear, sustainable “White Glove Service and Support” support model instead of “pay 25% every year or the clocks go dark”

Jim’s described how effortless implementing Touchpoint SmartClocks was for IT:

“The solution was there and the setup was a breeze.”

He’s not spending his days maintaining a hodgepodge of DIY kiosks. His small team can focus on keeping instructional tech running, not constantly tinkering with time-tracking hardware.

“I couldn't have asked for better service, and Touchpoint really prevented headaches before they occurred… My guys have never even touched the clocks at most locations!”

Implementation: Quiet cutover, visible support

RSU 25 went live with Red Rover Absence Management and Time Tracking, connected to Touchpoint SmartClocks, at the start of the school year.

Katie’s description of the shift is simple and telling:

“It really has come a long way!”

By the time of our conversation with Katie a few months after implementing the new unified solution, she was already hearing what matters most from district leaders and staff:

“I am getting feedback, and it’s pretty much all positive.”

Staff who had lived through multiple time systems noticed that this rollout felt different. The clocks were in the same places, the workflow felt familiar, but a reliable back-end was finally aligned to an easy, intuitive end user experience.

On the substitute side, the change from notebooks and spreadsheets to a modern, integrated tool was a major step. Now those processes sit inside Red Rover, tied directly to time tracking, instead of living in separate binders and spreadsheets.

Jim’s perspective on the rollout and ongoing operations is exactly what every busy IT professional hopes for with a new system:

“It has just been in the background.”

For Jim and his team, that is exactly the point.

Time and absence systems should work reliably without demanding constant attention from technology staff.

Outcomes

1. Lower cost and cleaner consolidation

On the financial and systems side, the district managed to turn a “time-only” budget line into a multi-function platform:

“In our case, we were able to leverage the existing funds for just time management and buy Red Rover and Touchpoint, which brought us time management, substitute management, and so much more.” - Jim

Instead of paying steep hardware support fees to keep old clocks alive, they redirected those dollars toward an integrated solution that includes:

Time tracking software
Absence and substitute management software
Badge-Scanning time clocks

2. Less paper, more coverage, fewer gaps

Previously, a seat-limited system forced RSU 25 to keep a chunk of staff on paper, which meant extra work and extra risk. With Red Rover and Touchpoint in place, all of those people are now in the system. Paper timecards are no longer a painfully necessary backup plan.

The move to integrated substitute management also closed one of the most failure-prone gaps that depended on paper processes and manual effort district-wide. Those processes are now completely digital, where they belong, natively integrated to the time system that feeds payroll.

“It has made payroll a lot smoother. Things are accurate, people are getting paid, subs are accounted for.” - Katie

3. Happier staff and subs, including tech-hesitant users

Because Red Rover provides a browser-based clock and a mobile app, and Touchpoint provides simple badge-based SmartClocks, RSU 25 can meet different comfort levels with technology.

Even for staff who were wary of new tools, the combination of a straightforward app and a familiar badge tap makes the system approachable. For less tech-savvy team members in particular:

“Touchpoint makes it easy on staff. They can just literally tap their badge to clock in and out on a daily basis. You make it as easy as possible for users who may have struggled with technology otherwise. - Jim

Subs and teachers can accept jobs and manage availability from a phone on the Red Rover app, and subs and hourly staff can tap their door access badge at a SmartClock when they arrive.

Katie specified the biggest improvement staff experience every pay cycle:

“I would say it's the efficiency of not having time cards.”

The paper stack has vanished, digital adoption has grown to include all staff, and the system finally matches how the district actually works.

4. Less strain on a small IT team

From the technology perspective, the combination of Red Rover and Touchpoint has changed the stress profile around time and attendance.

Jim started from a place where exorbitant technology costs prevented full time tracking rollout and blocked any consideration of a much-needed absence management system.

By the time RSU 25 finished their transition, that costly complexity had been replaced by a single, integrated, affordable solution, with time clocks that are a complete non-issue for IT.

“The last thing we wanted to do, and why we got support to spend money on hardware when we originally didn't plan on, was to have to support one more item as we returned to school when it was chaotic enough. And it’s been really smooth!”

For a rural Maine district with limited technology staff, that reduced demand on IT bandwidth matters as much as any feature.

In Conclusion...

RSU 25’s journey was never about buying “more tech.” It was all about replacing an incomplete, expensive mix of tools and paper with a coherent, K-12-focused system, so payroll runs cleanly, subs are managed in one place, staff have easy ways to clock in, and IT can keep the whole thing “in the background” where it belongs.

To learn more about Touchpoint’s badge-scanning SmartClocks, fully integrated with Red Rover Time Tracking, request a demo or quote today!

Case Study: Regional School Unit 25