Milliken, Colorado
3,300 Students
Weld RE5J School District, located in northern Colorado, had been using Powerschool SMS, formally known as Chancery, for five years. They believed the system was built for large districts, and with only 3,300 students, it was not suitable for them. Weld RE5J heard about Infinite Campus from neighboring districts, and wanted to learn more about the fully-integrated, Web-based student information system (SIS). In 2009, Infinite Campus was chosen as their new, scalable solution.
Challenges
Weld RE5J Technology Contact and Teacher Coach, Heidi Hammer-Skinner, has worked in the district for 12 years.
“I didn’t know SQL well or how to write scripts, and with PowerSchool
SMS, I needed to know how to do those things to get the reports I needed
that were not built in. Also, information was not in real time, and the
system was not user friendly for district staff.”
“Our district data was not integrated, and we also had to purchase several third-party systems; one was K12 Planet, for our parent portal. Student information was uploaded nightly, so it was not in real time,” remembered Hammer-Skinner. “It was hard to get the parents to participate when information was not always up-to-date.”
Weld
RE5J knew they needed one, centralized system. “Infinite Campus was
very up-and-coming at the time. We learned that Charlie Kratsch,
Infinite Campus Founder and CEO, built the system from a teacher’s
perspective which was very appealing. Other vendors just didn’t
compare,” said Hammer-Skinner.
Solution
Infinite
Campus was designed for districts of all sizes, from those with less
than one hundred students, to regions and states with thousands of
students. Today, Weld RE 5J benefits from the true integration of
Infinite Campus.
With the Campus Portal, parents, guardians and students have real-time access to grades, attendance, assignments, schedule information and much more. The new Campus Mobile Portal is an intuitive app that can be accessed from any Apple® iOS or Android® device.
Weld RE5J chose to add Campus Messenger with Voice to their SIS. This optional premium product can be used for routine or emergency notifications. And since it’s integrated with the core system, contact information is always accurate. Authorized staff can send out messages from anywhere with Internet – even a smartphone.
“For urgent situations such as snow days and attendance calls, parent and guardian telephone numbers are extracted from Campus in real time and voice messages are distributed. We use emails for general messages such as picture day, sporting events and student camps,” said Hammer-Skinner.
Computer
Information Concepts, Inc. (CIC) is the Infinite Campus Channel Partner
serving customers in several states, including Colorado. CIC works with
Weld 5 to provide the best localized service and support possible.
“Our CIC Account Manager, Sarah Fredrickson, and their help desk team
is amazing. I have never had to wait for service,” explained
Hammer-Skinner.
Results
The Infinite Campus system, products and services have helped Weld RE5J in many ways.
The Campus Portal has improved the staff’s ability to communicate with parents and students. “We’ve seen a huge increase in parent and student involvement with the portal,” said Hammer-Skinner. “Parents absolutely love it. And students hate that their parents love it so much!”
Additionally, Weld RE5J benefits from the Infinite Campus state reporting solution. Campus professional software product analysts work closely with customers and the state’s DOE to constantly monitor changing state and federal reporting requirements.
According
to Hammer-Skinner, “With Infinite Campus, state reporting is there.
It’s as easy as a push of a button. We’ve saved so much time and
effort.”
Redundant data-entry and inconsistent data has been eliminated with
Infinite Campus. Information is transferred seamlessly between schools,
and Weld RE5J is confident that information is accurate and up-to-date.
“The reliability and support of Infinite Campus is invaluable. Previously, closing at year-end took two weeks. Now, it takes less than a day,” explained Hammer-Skinner. “We’ve saved a huge amount of time and effort with the functionality of Infinite Campus.”