New system lets parents track grades

The McCook school board agreed at a special meeting Thursday night to spend $70,800 on a new school information system -- SIS -- that one board member feels will improve communications with parents.

The "Infinite Campus" SIS will be purchased from CIC of Greeley, Colo. The first year's cost -- equipment and training -- will be $70,800. The yearly cost after that is estimated at $25,800.

Jim Coady said one of the big advantages of the "Infinite Campus" SIS is the ability for parents to easily track the progress of their students. Infinite Campus also makes it easy for students who have missed class to get assignments online, Coady said, "freeing up time for teacher to teach."

Fellow board member Mike Gonzales said he feels Infinite Campus will "make information flow better K-12."

Kim Korgan, who manages the district's current student information system, said the support from CIC is exceptional, with phone calls returned yet the same day or the next morning. Technical support for another company is questionable, Korgan said, with technical support requests answered in 10 to 14 days.

Superintendent Dr. Don Marchant said Infinite Campus would be invaluable in an emergency lock-down situation, enabling the school to contact parents about their students.

Fellow board member Diane Lyons said that as "wonderful" as all this sounds, she questions the need to spend $96,600 in two years on an SIS when another system with "fewer bells and whistles" may do, and the district may be looking at hiring more teachers and purchasing an activity bus.

Korgan said she has researched several other SISes, "and they just don't do what we want to do," and that the current system doesn't provide the services on the same level as Infinite Campus.

Gonzales said that while Infinite Campus has some technology that the district may not need immediately, "we can grow into the technology. If we buy short, we'll grow out of it."

Lyons was the only board member who voted against accepting the CIC bid for the district's new SIS.

In other action:

* Board members ac-cepted a bid of $11,489 from Double D Lawn and Landscape of McCook for 89,000 square feet of sod for the McCook Elementary site, with a six-month warranty.

The second-highest bid was $12,460, from Total Turf; the third was $14,240, from Gaston Lawn and Landscape. Both companies are from McCook.

Board members discussed the bids for 20 minutes, having difficulty comparing bids offered with a variety of delivery and transportation options.

* Because of the wide variety of materials and installation options offered on sprinkler bids for McCook Elementary, board members rejected all four bids and will request bids for a sprinkler system designed and completely installed.

The four bids came from R&L Sprinklers and Total Turf of McCook, Reams Sprinkler and Supply of Grand Island and Hoehner Turf and Irrigation of Kearney.

* The board accepted a bid of $14,475 from Houlden Contracting of Cambridge to repair the substructure as needed and install a new roof on the Special Education Center on North Highway 83. Houlden's bid is for a sprayed-on polyurethane roofing system guaranteed for 12 years.

The second bid, for a "Rubbergard" ballasted system costing $15,980, came from Weathercraft Roofing of McCook.

Coady said the smaller roof on the SPED center "is a perfect opportunity to try a different type of roof, to see what kind of performance we get out of it."

Coady said that he wants to start the roof repairs as soon as possible. "The only way to get some rain," he laughed, "is to tear a roof off."

The vote to accept Houlden's bid was unanimous.

* Board president Greg Larson told fellow board members that the East Ward elementary school has been sold for $60,000.

* Larson said that the sale on one of the former North Ward elementary modular classrooms, for $28,000, has been closed. The sale of the second double classroom, also for $28,000, is pending, he said.

The sale of the third modular is ongoing, Dr. Marchant said, as the school has received two bids for it.

All three modulars will be moved by the week of April 17, so groundwork can begin for sprinklers and sod.