Past due fee notices will be sent to families in the next few weeks.

Past due fee notices will be sent to families in the next few weeks.

Q. Why is this being done?
A. School fees are typically taken care of during school registration in August. However, we’ve learned that our school district has not been following up with families that have past due fees.

Q.What do you mean by “notices” will be sent?
A.  We will begin by sending a gentle email reminder, eventually working up to automated phone calls, and then finishing with mailed letters.

Q.  Do we expect these type of notices to be in place next year as well?
A.  Yes, ideally families should receive more frequent reminders, as this helps families plan and prepare.

Q. What are the exact steps that are happening?
A.  Here’s the specific steps we’ll be taking over the next few weeks….

STEP	WHEN?
1.Create a list of which students have overdue fees, sorted by highest to lowest.  This allowed us to see how much of a problem we have… currently it ranges from thousands of dollars owed, all the way down to 10 cents.	Already completed.
2.Review the highest owed students fees. Confirm that the fees are accurate and make sure that free/reduced lunch information has been applied correctly.	In progress, but may take a week or more.
3.Use Campus Messenger to send an email notice to the parents/guardians of students who have past due fees.  They will be instructed to call their school to resolve any past due fees.	We will notify schools PRIOR to when this message goes out, should be in the next few weeks, but not until step 2 is complete.
4.Approximately a week later, we will use Campus messenger to place a phone call home to parents/guardians of students with past due fees.  Again, they will instructed to contact their child’s school office to resolve any past due fees.	We will notify schools PRIOR to when the call goes out,  anticipate that it will be at least one week after step 3
5.Once this is completed, we will review the fees to see what impact the previous steps had – and then determine if another email, phone call, or formal letter is needed.	Mid- May

When will WDM Schools have on-line registration?

When will WDM Schools have on-line registration?
Short answer:  Summer of 2013.

Full details…….
Q1. Has the district reviewed any vendor options for online registration?
A1. Yes, we reviewed two options… each option was focused on a full online registration process.
A) Infosnap, an option used by Waukee Schools.  However, InfoSnap does not yet have the ability to integrate with Infinite Campus
B) We reviewed an option from Infinite Campus… However, after a full review it was determined that the district needs to have a centralized registrar in place and standardize all registration at all schools prior to implementing on-line registration.

Q2. I’m totally frustrated…. I saw in the paper that Waukee moved most of their registration online (although some paper is still required in person).. If they can do it, why can’t we?
A2.  This is a great question….  The challenge isn’t the technology, as Infinite Campus has the ability to provide us with on-line registration, but it assumes that the district has 1) standardized district enrollment processes and 2) a district registrar that oversees the process.    Currently, each of our schools handles the registration on their own, basically creating 14 different registration models/processes.   In order to resolve both of these issues, we are implementing a District Registrar, who will assist us with standardizing the registration forms between all schools and this person will also be responsible for data entry for all new families entering our district.

Q3. What could possibly be so hard about standardizing the registration forms?
A3. With building based registration, each school has had the ability to customize the forms for their own needs.  In addition, most schools use a student based form – which means parents fill out the same form for EACH student.  This leads to lots of repetition.  Instead, we’d like to move to a family based form, so that the family can fill out one form that contains information on everyone in the family.

Q4. What about on-line payment systems –  will the registration process include the ability to pay on-line?
A4.  Yes, we expect to also have the ability to pay on-line while registering.

Q5. When on-line registration is available… EVERYTHING will be on-line right?  In other words, there will be absolutely no need to visit the school?
A5.  We’re still reviewing this,  but it’s likely that schools will still want families/students to visit the school to obtain their class schedules.  It’s not a technical issue – instead, our schools are wanting to remove as much paperwork as possible, but they still want to connect with families and students face to face.

Q6. When will the Registrar position start?
A6. The District Registrar position started just recently.  Some of our first tasks include:  moving from student based forms to family based forms and standardizing to one single registration form for all schools.  We’ll then begin to take the data entry away from schools and transition it to the District Registrar.

Q7. Is there more information on what the new Registrar position is doing and how this will impact the school registration process?
A7. Yes, more information is available at: https://wdmtech.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/dstrict-registrar/