Fixing the Los Angeles Unified School District’s troubled computerized student information system will likely take at least a year, Superintendent Ramon Cortines said Tuesday.
Cortines, who has been working to repair the My Integrated Student Information System since replacing John Deasy as superintendent less than a month ago, told the LAUSD board he will be asking the district’s Bond Oversight Committee on Thursday — and the board in December — to approve additional funding for the repair effort over the next few months.
“The MiSiS project is not going to be a quick fix,” Cortines told the board. “I estimate it will take us a minimum of a year to fix it. I think it will improve, but there are going to be bumps in the road … and we’re going to be very transparent on how we fix it.”
A consultant’s report released earlier this month faulted the district for failing to adequately take into account the opinions of LAUSD employees who would actually be using the system — most notably teachers — when the program was being developed. Cortines said that would not be the case during the repair process.
“We are going to involve the people who use it in helping make decisions — students, teachers, counselors, assistant principals, principals and all of the staff of this district,” he said.
Glitches with the MiSiS system have continued throughout the school year, at one point leading to a walkout at Jefferson High School, where students complained they were unable to register for classes they need to graduate, were assigned to duplicate courses or simply sent home or told to sit in a library for certain class periods.
Cortines said he has been working with officials from Microsoft and talking to them about a “potential long-term partnership to improve the system.”
He noted that the district allocated about $1 million last week to help ensure students will be able to obtain transcripts and report cards. Cortines is expected to ask the district’s Bond Oversight Committee on Thursday for more than $53,000 in funding “that will take us through mid-February” on the MiSiS repair project.
Cortines also said there are now more than 50 retirees working with the district on ensuring the accuracy of student transcripts, grades and report cards.
— City News Service