Higley begins replacing student info system

Feb 17, 2010 — East Valley Tribune

Hayley Ringle

Feb. 16, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- The Higley Unified School District is starting to replace its student information system this month because district officials say it has major glitches and limitations. The new system is expected to save the district money, and headaches, district officials said.

The current system, called Student Information Records System, or SIRS 4, has caused problems in state reporting, student attendance, assessment data, health and immunization data, grade calculations and communications with parents. Higley officials also said materials provided to the district were not adequate.

The school board unanimously approved buying the new system, called Genesis, through Edupoint Educational Systems, on Jan. 28.

"This was such a huge investment for the Higley district," said board president Paul Howell, an English teacher at Mesa High School who has used Genesis in the Mesa Unified School District for about four years. "We needed to get this right."

Genesis is expected to save Higley an estimated $141,624 over the next five years, said Anna McCauley, Higley's director of research and assessment.

The system should be fully installed by the end of March and will be operational the first day of school for the 2010-11 school year, McCauley said.

"Committee members and reviewers all felt that the interface is simpler, entering information is easier and it has the possibility to customize fields (make reports on certain data)," McCauley said.

Howell said Genesis is used for teachers to do everything from daily attendance, where teachers pull up a page with their student's picture on it and easily mark whether they are absent, to pulling up student contact information. Teachers can also access AIMS test results, and Genesis is used as an electronic grade book, Howell said.

"It's a simple process to do all progress reports," Howell said. "Before, you had to physically fill out a sheet for every student. Genesis transports that information electronically. It's a paperless program and it increases productivity."

The computer system is also used by administrators and district staff, in the classroom, school office and the district office. The system is also used for inputting schedules, assessment scores and configuring reports.

"In the end, Genesis seemed user friendly," he said. "It has a strong interface with the state-reporting system, which was one of the things that was huge for us. We better get our attendance numbers right, especially since we're a growing district."

Parents will still have a parent portal, called Parent Experience, which will replace the current HomeLogic, to check their child's grades, attendance, assignments and request courses for high school students, McCauley said.

The initial cost for Genesis will be $196,670, which includes the license, implementation services and the first year of maintenance and support. The money will come from impact fees.

Although the costs are high at first, the costs will go down to between $43,618 the second year to $47,663 the fifth year, with an expected increase in annual maintenance fees and contracted support. In contrast, SIRS' estimated costs for the next five years starts at $101,336 and ends five years from now at $106,652, depending on student growth, McCauley said.

Annual maintenance fees of Genesis will cost Higley between $43,000 to $48,000, which includes the parent and student portal and support services. SIRS cost the district annually $60,171, with an additional $40,000 a year for support costs, McCauley said.

In 2008-2010, the Higley district paid $227,520 on its student information system: $123,070 of that went to SIRS, she said.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0132-42129876