Another $12.1M Tentatively Approved In LAUSD Computer System Overhaul
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The Los Angeles Unified School District's bond oversight committee approved more than $12.1 million in funds to help repair a glitchy computerized student information system, on top of the $33 million in previously approved bond funds.
The funding, which still needs the approval of the district's Board of Education, is expected to get the district through mid-February in its effort to overhaul the My Integrated Student Informatio System, or MiSiS. Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who had asked for more than $53 million,will likely return to the committee to ask for more.
Cortines told the school board on Tuesday that fixing the system, which has mixed up student school schedules, held up the production of report cards and student transcripts and prvented teachers from tracking student attendance, could take a year.
On Wednesday, the district released a report by inspector general Ken Bramlett, who found the district's oversight of the development of MiSiS was substandard.
"Overall, we found the district's project management of the MiSiS development and implementation to be grossly inadequate, resulting in the software being rolled out before the data integrity issues were resolved, end-to-end testing done, user acceptance testing completed, load testing was properly carried out and interfaces with other systems determined to be functional," according to the report.
The report also concluded that information-technology officials failed to "allocate adequate resources for program oversight, and management relied heavily on information provided by the project director without the benefit of independent verification and validation."
It also faulted the district for failing to properly train people who would be using the system.
The report made a series of recommendations, including the development of a new project plan and allocation of sufficient resources to resolve the issues.
A separate 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 Tuesday 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.
Cortines said he has been working with officials from Microsoft and talking to them about a "potential long-term partnership to improve the system."
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.
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