Parents of students in Tacoma Public Schools next year will be able to check their children’s attendance, grades, homework assignments and discipline records, and communicate with teachers in a new way – largely in real time.
The student-information technology set to launch in the 2012-13 school year is touted as less expensive in the long run than the current system; the Tacoma School Board approved the change last month.
The district signed a five-year contract with a company called SunGard, which provides software services to education, financial and public sectors.
The new system will cost about $3.7 million, which includes staff training and implementation, said Shaun Taylor, the district’s executive director of technology services.
After that, the yearly cost will be about $100,000, he said – compared with $255,000 a year for the current system, known as eSIS.
More than 2,200 district employees will be trained on the new software starting next month, Taylor said.
Many school districts have technologies in place that allow parents to check on their children’s school records via computer without having to wait for the next report card or parent-teacher conference.
Tacoma’s new system is designed to improve the flow of information.
For one thing, the system will be linked directly with teachers’ grade books, Taylor said. That’s a change from the current software, which doesn’t update grades as frequently.
Under the current system, “these updates are once or twice a week, depending on the school,” he said.
The eSIS software also does not show homework assignments, discipline reports or real-time attendance, he said.
In addition, the current system requires parents to have a login for each individual child. After the change, only one login account will be necessary per family, even if parents have more than one child attending Tacoma schools.
The real-time functionality will let parents and students see updates as soon as teachers submit them.
“I think it’s going to be good for the district,” Taylor said. “It’ll help parents be engaged with teachers.”
SunGard was one of three finalists reviewed by a team of 25 district employees, including nine teachers. The district has been using eSIS since 2000, but it was recently bought out by another company and won’t be supported after June 30.
Capital project funds will pay for most of the software cost, said Ron Hack, the district’s chief financial officer. Some funding also will come from the general fund.
Puyallup, Everett and Bellevue are among the Washington districts using the SunGard software.
Debra Aungst of the Puyallup School District said her district has been using versions of the software since the 1990s and began using the package Tacoma will use about four years ago.
“With conversions of any kind, you’re going to run into problems,” said Aungst, the district’s deputy superintendent. “As a whole, we think this is a good product for us.”
Stephanie Kim: 253-597-8692
stephanie.kim@thenewstribune.com
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