School district to adopt new computer system, add section to Robert Crown

by Josh Van Dyke

The Wauconda School District will soon be seeing changes to the structure of its computer network as well as it buildings.  During its June 4 meeting the Wauconda School Board looked at a number of long-term initiatives that will go into the 2009 and 2010 fiscal year.   

                Perhaps the change that parents will be directly affected by are plans to adopt the "PowerSchool" information system.  Currently the school district has its digital information spread over several smaller local area networks, or LANs, increasing the potential for security holes and making access to information problematic. 

                With the switch to the PowerSchool system all of the information will be in one wide area network.  The use of PowerSchool will also allow for instant information updates and easier access.   Parents will be given sign-on information that will allow them to look up things like their child's grades and attendance records at any time they wish, helping them stay informed and play a more active role in their child's education.

                "I think it's going to give some positive options to some of the parents," said Matthews Middle School Principal David Wilm. 

                The current plan is to train the staff and faculty of the school district to use the system over the summer and throughout the Fall 2009 semester, with the PowerSchool system going live in December.  The monetary cost, about $6500, will pay for an expert who will advise during the process.  In terms of equipment and software the system will mostly use resources that the school district already has, and another benefit to the changes will be improved security/

                "When you're dealing with student information, you don't want to have any holes," said District Technology Supervisor Scott Cittadino, who presented information about the new system to the school board.

                The change to the structure of the buildings will come in the form of a new section of Robert Crown School.  The addition will allow for an additional class, reducing class sizes to 21 or 20.  The board gave tentative approval to the plan and will finalize the decision on June 18.

                The board also discussed the 2009 and 2010 budget for maintenance and repair of the school district buildings.  The budget has been decreased from an original amount of $250000 to $125000 as part of cuts to the overall school board budget.  The maintenance budget's current form is expected to be approved.

                The school board asked the principals of each school to give reports on their attempts to look at ways to improve educational standards in reading, writing, and math.  Methods included making evaluations more consistent, having students try different reading strategies such as following along with a group, performing plays for the peers, writing interesting leads to stories, and individual "interventions."    Each of the principals reported success with the initial group of students, with one student improving from a basic 2nd grade reading level to an advanced 4th grade level within 13 weeks.