Student Information Systems | News

New York District To Switch SIS To Cut Expenses

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 06/04/13

Comsewogue School District is replacing its student information system (SIS) with another one to save money and improve its processes. The New York district, which has about 4,000 students, has adopted Follett's Aspen Student Information System through its Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) and expects to cut its administration costs by $40,000.

Eastern Suffolk BOCES, which serves the district, as well as 50 others in the Long Island area, added Follett's Aspen to its approved list of SISs in August 2012. The application, which has several modules, combines functions for managing class schedules, school events, student performance, athletic eligibility, and student health records. A state reporting feature collects the information required for compliance and prepares the data for transmission to the state agency. The program integrates with a district's learning management system, as well as special education and other software in use by schools.

Comsewogue expects to begin training administrators and staff in mid-August to give them about four weeks of experience before the 2013-2014 school year begins in September.

"It will completely change the way we communicate in our district," said Superintendent Joseph Rella. "It will be better for our teachers and allow them to spend more time teaching. And it will allow our parents to be involved like they've never been involved before."

Rella was introduced to Aspen when he attended a meeting about the SIS. He said he was particularly impressed by how it pulled together processes that are currently being handled by multiple programs. "I'm going to learn Aspen right along with everyone else," he noted. "It is vitally important for me to know it as well as anyone around here."

He predicted that the district's parents would appreciate Aspen's parent portal, which will give them access to grades, attendance, and other student-related data.

Aspen modules are also in use by Everett Public Schools in Massachusetts, Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida, and Montville Public Schools in Connecticut.