PARSIPPANY — This afternoon, the Board of Education released the following information: “All Middle School students were given updated copies of their schedules this morning. A small percentage of students still needed assistance in completing their academic core (Language Arts/Reading and Writing, Math, Social Studies, Science) schedules. For the balance of this week students will be given updated schedules that may or may not contain schedule changes. The Genesis student information portal is fully working as expected. We have focused all of our resources on our students and their schedules, said Joan F. Benos, Chief of Staff/Public Information Officer.”
Over the weekend, the district released another statement, claiming the Genesis portal is not the issue, rather a longer-range problem: “We would like to inform you that the issues we are having with our middle school schedules do not have anything to do with our student information system software, Genesis. The design of the middle school schedule presented our district with various problems when it came time for implementation. When solutions were chosen as a means to correct the problem, the staff at Genesis was completely supportive and willing to help. They came to our district, conferenced with key personnel on the phone, and answered questions as they arose. Genesis remains fully capable of handling all of our student information needs, including scheduling, and we are grateful to them for their assistance throughout our efforts to correct this problem.”
Meanwhile, on Friday, September 4, on the second day of the new school year, Dr. Nancy Gigante, Assistant Superintendent, stated Scott Rixford is taking a 30-day medical leave of absence effective immediately. Calls to Mr. Rixford’s cell phone went to voice mail, and the voice mail box was full.
Parents and students were able to obtain their schedules over the weekend, although many have complained to missing classes or missing teachers assigned to classes.
The statements and updates released by the Board of Education regarding the issues weren’t enough for students and parents. Parents didn’t understand the problem since schedules were completed by families in January 2015, giving the district some seven months to iron out the problems.
Parents are urging everyone to attend the Board of Education meeting on Thursday, September 10 at 7:00 p.m. to be held at the Parsippany High School, 309 Baldwin Road.
