Having two daughters make their way through the public school system here in North Carolina, it’s dawned on me a number of times — for various reasons like snowstorms, sick days, etc. — that with all the technology in schools today, how did the webcam get overlooked?

I think nearly every classroom my daughters have had have been equipped with projectors, remote control systems, SmartBoards and even videoconferencing. Yet, none of them have the classes either live-streamed or recorded for the simple application of a kid missing class for a sick day!

How is this not where the tech-revolution in schools started? Where did this idea go?

Last week’s snowstorm in the northeast made me aware of a select few school districts in nNew York and New Jersey that have, in fact, installed cameras in the corners of the back of the classrooms (with audio) so that kids who can’t make it in to the schools, can login and watch class – in real-time. This is genius and simple at the same time.

I remember how much fun missing class was when I was in school. Although I was mostly bored, as my parents worked, it was like having the house to myself – well, I did have the house to myself. and, all I did was watch TV. All day long. Bonanza, Gilligan’s Island, The Brady Bunch, Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Speed Racer, The Waltons, Hart to Hart, SWAT, The Andy Griffith Show, I Dream of Jeanie, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Twilight Zone, Perry Mason, Bewitched, Gunsmoke, Star Trek, Hogan’s Heroes, Flipper — OK, you get the point. I watched a lot of TV.

Anyway, the next day — when I returned to school — it sucked. I had to catch-up with all that missed work and do it with the cryptic words and notes of friends who, well, didn’t talk much and had a terrible time taking notes.

Yet, here we sit in 2015 and we have tons of technology integrated in schools and, according to the Department of Education, less than 5 percent of the nation’s elementary, middle and high schools have any sort of distance learning at all.

Translation: kids who stay home still miss everything.

Why doesn’t someone — Extron, ClearOne, Listen, Crestron, AMX, SMART, anyone make a packaged system that includes a camera with mic and a built-in web server (and a cloud-based streaming system) that’s about $200 or $300 per classroom so that every classroom in every school can stream every class? No kid will ever miss class. Go to a website, login and watch!

Of course, the daytime ratings for ’90s reruns would plummet.