South’s student data system experienced a major overhaul this summer, creating unexpected obstacles for Assistant Principal Mary Scott, who is responsible for creating schedules for all of South’s students and faculty.
While most of the scheduling issues were ironed out before students arrived on Tuesday, some students found themselves missing core classes or enrolled in additional courses they did not intend to take.
Four years ago, the Newton Public Schools discovered that in a few years, its current data system, MacSchool, would no longer be supported as it had been bought out another data system company.
“We found out that MacSchool wasn’t going to be supported, and if something went wrong there would be no trouble-shooting team to help us out,” Scott said.
From that point on, the district began phasing in the current data system, SMS Chancery.
Newton’s elementary schools were the first to use SMS, and the middle schools switched over to the system last year.
Last spring, Scott was aware that problems existed in SMS. “I heard a lot of complaints from [the middle schools], but then they were trying to switch the schedules and the system at the same time,” she said.
For South’s scheduling, the system had to organize over 500 courses meeting in 163 rooms, with most students taking an average of six classes.
Scott had heard that SMS was capable of handling complex scheduling combinations; however, on Aug. 1, she realized that the system would not recognize individual teacher’s time restrictions. Many teachers who requested not to teach certain blocks for personal reasons had instead been placed in those blocks. To attempt to fix the scheduling conflicts, Scott moved on to her “plan B.”
Scott called in all department heads, who brought to her all of their staffs’ requests and worked with her to create a new schedule.
“What happened was that Scott and the department heads created the schedule by hand,” Principal Joel Stembridge said. “So this was the backup plan. There was never a time when I thought it wasn’t going to be done. Because [Scott] can handle it all.”
Even though teachers trusted Scott’s ability to reorganize the schedules, Scott was slightly hesitant about her ability to compensate for SMS. “I wasn’t afraid of the new program. I’m the person who likes new stuff like software,’’ Scott said. “I first realized something was wrong when I had to click through a list of 163 randomly sorted rooms to assign a room to individual teachers. The program was supposed to do that on its own. At that point I was slightly nervous.”
Even after working tirelessly with the department heads to customize the school schedule so that it met individual needs, Scott is not fully satisfied with the outcome. “We worked over 100 extra hours than we normally would, yet we couldn’t find the time to [work out issues with electives.] It’s harder to schedule individual request when the system wont let you see all the pieces of the course request,” she said. “I’m just sad that the Guidance counselors will now have to work harder to fill up the holes in students’ schedules.”
Although SMS created many problems before this summer, it does prove to be a helpful system in the long run. “What I found was that after the teachers were put into correct rooms and blocks they had no difficulties using the new system,” math department head Steven Rattendi said. “SMS is very accessible; the teachers can do attendance, grading and many other things from anywhere in the school and even their home.”
Even though teachers have different reactions towards the new data management system, they all agree that the problem could not have been solved without Scott. “[Scott] really feels it’s her job to set the school up for the year. She wanted the teachers to be happy, the students to be happy,” Stembridge said. “People need to understand and acknowledge the job that Mary Scott has done. This is a real tour de force.”
Rattendi, who helped Scott fix the schedules by hand, also appreciates Scott’s efforts. “She has been putting [in] a lot of hours and very little sleep to get this work done. She’s … the expert in the field of making schedules,” he said. “Scott deserves a pat on the back and some time to sleep.”
