Mat-Ab District adopts new student info system

ABERDEEN — Parents will now be able to track and monitor their students' progress in real time with a new program recently approved by the Board of Education.

T

he board voted unanimously to enter

into a five-year contract with Realtime Information Technology at the Feb. 23 Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District Board of Education meeting.

"Basically, it is an Internet-based student information system that allows teachers, administrators and parents to track academic progress," said Barbi Siegel, director of student personnel services and assistant principal at Matawan Regional High School. "Our current system is going out of business and this new one is a little bit more current and up-to-date."

The five-year contract will cost the district $125,000, said Business Administrator Susan Irons.

"It is a yearly contract of $25,000 and there are no penalties if we do not decide to renew each year," Irons explained.

In an interview after the meeting, board President Patricia Demarest explained why she is in favor of the program.

"As both a board member and a parent, I am glad that the district has approved the Realtime program [because] this program enables communication between the school and the student's family to be done in a more timely, efficient and comprehensive way using technology that we already had in place," Demarest explained.

"It will enable parents to engage in communication regarding their child's progress on a daily basis over the Internet. We are striving to increase the homeschool collaboration in an effort to boast student success."

According to their website, Realtime "organizes and maintains all aspects of scheduling, grading, discipline, nurse's office and medical records, IEPs, 504s, rankings, transcripts, student and staff attendance, enrollment, contact information, state reporting as well as many other builtin and optional modules." Realtime is based in Toms River.

Parents will be able to access Realtime through the school's website, officials said.

"This is a common occurrence in education right now," Siegel said. "Right now we have a lot more access to students' progress and in a very secure and efficient way."

Siegel explained that the district would convert their data from the current system to Realtime, hopefully putting the system in working order by the fall.

"We want to be up and running to do the new schedule," Siegel said. "In the next few months we will process data and hopefully roll it out in September."

The new technology will eliminate teachers' traditional grade books, Siegel said.

"This will take the place of paper grade books and the current system's limits," Siegel said. "I have had experience with similar systems in other districts, and it is a good way to keep parents informed and teachers and administrators organized."

Former Board of Education member Ken Aiken said he was glad to see the new technology on the agenda.

"This is great for parents," he said. "We have been trying to get something like this for a while."