Parents, School Employees Compliment New Registration Process

Lori Stefek was pleasantly surprised this week with the new registration process for her son Jack Stefek, who is entering his junior year at .

Stefek completed the mandatory online pre-registration paperwork several days ago and then walked through the manual portion of the process Tuesday with Jack. The pair planned to have lunch together and stopped by the school beforehand, where Jack was able to receive his schedule, pick up his books, student handbook and other necessary items to start classes Sept. 6. 

Her initial reaction to the mandatory online pre-registration was a touch of disdain, she said, explaining she thought it would be a difficult process. After completing it, however, Stefek is a fan. 

"It seems a lot easier than the old system," she said, as her son nods in agreement. The lines for each registration station are the main difference, they said, explaining the lines this year don't compare.

The online pre-registration process allows parents and students to fill out all of the necessary forms including basic information such as address, phone number, emergency contacts and more. This essentially allows parents and students to skip what used to be the first station of registration and quickly move from station to station gathering all of the tangible supplies, such as textbooks and student handbooks. 

It is required for all middle and high schoolers in , which is providing computer lab time should parents need computer or Internet access. The district has also posted a variety of tools to help parents and students through the process, including a how-to video, written instructions and some helpful informational flyers.

The first step in the process is what was mandatory, said Sharon Halicki, the district's supervisor of information services. The first step required parents and students to sign off on the code of conduct and other multipage agreements that are part of the standard start of school process, she said. 

Developed in part through an effort for the district to become more environmentally green, Halicki said the process saves the district what she described as copious amounts of paper, postage and employee time. Previously all of the paperwork parents are now completeing online was mailed to every student—so a parent with three children in the district received three packets, she said.

The service the district is using is paid for on a month-to-month basis and is far less than what the district would have paid for the paper method, Halicki said, noting the district's ongoing goal to save money.

So far, the registration process has gone well district wide, she said, noting the system is getting its heaviest use Tuesday and Wednesday because both middle and high schoolers are registering.

The other major change is that parents are able, if they wish, to make a single payment for all of the various fees including athletic passes, yearbook orders, school newspaper subscriptions, gym uniforms, activities fees, art supply fees and more, district spokeswoman Rebecca Fannon said. Previously, parents had to pay at each station—often writing many checks or making many smaller payments. 

With the new online process, payment options have limited to the use of a debit or credit card as checks cannot be accepted online, making the whole process much easier for parents and students, Fannon said. This also saves the finance department of the district from having to count money, stamp checks and take time to deliver deposits to the bank, Halicki said. 

Cassandra Lewis used to dread registration day for her daughter KeDeja McClendon, who is also going to be a junior at Grosse Pointe North. The process used to consume her day, she said. 

Lewis also has a daughter who will be a freshman at North this year and she said the new online pre-registration has sped up the entire process so much she estimates it's easily saving her hours of her time. The registration for both girls is likely to take less time than it used to take to complete registration for just one of her daughters, she said.

Patch overheard other North students talking about how quick the process is this year as compared to years past, when they used to bring some sort of entertainment, such as a book or game.

North's Finance Clerk Nancy Davison, who is also in charge of the process at her school, said the online process has saved her hours of work as well. The information she used to enter for each student is now being entered by each parent.

Helping man a computer lab at North this week, Davison said for using the system for the first time, the process has gone smoothly.

She has had to deal with small glitches that are technical—not human—errors but overall it has gone well. Davison said she is hearing positive response from parents, students and staff and believes the amount of work put into the project by Halicki has paid off immeasurably. 

As with any first time project, there are likely going to be alterations to make it even better next year, Davison said, but really for the time in which the project was put together and implemented it's worked remarkably well.

One change likely to come, Davison said, is allowing the user to make selections throughout the process—something school board member Judy Gafa mentioned during Monday's meeting. Once the appropriate selections have been made, the program moves to the next section and if a parent or student changes their mind or wants to add something more, they have to back to that portion of the program and then redo the following sections, she said. It's not a problem more just a convenience to allow more maneuvering throughout the program, Davison said. 

Student registration began this week. At the high school level the registrations begin with those who will be seniors on Monday and continue through the week with each class. Middle schoolers began registration Wednesday.