School board upgrades software

The Petersburg School Board unanimously approved an $80,037 software program for the Petersburg School District’s finance office.

PSD Finance Director Karen Quitslund said the current software is 35 years old and that she has been looking at new programs for several years.

“The current system is really outdated. It’s inefficient,” Quitslund said. “All the processes are done manually and of course the more manual processes that you have the more the margin of error is greater.”

The district’s current software doesn’t interface with other programs the schools use, such as Aesop the districts leave and substitute management program.

Quitslund listed off the benefits the new software, Tyler Technologies Infinite Vision Enterprise, would provide to her office and the district such as interfacing with other programs.

“It is hard to quantify the cost of purchasing a program like this but the reality is the current system we have is so inefficient,” Quitslund said. “It’s very time consuming. I do think it would be a cost savings program because it would allow us to reallocate some of the tasks that we’re currently doing and just become more efficient as a district.

School Board member Jay Lister asked how the software compared to others.

“Are we buying a Mercedes program or are we buying a Chevy,” Lister asked. “We don’t have anything to compare it to. Are there ones out there that are $10,000 that do most everything we need but not quite as nice or is this the nicest one there is available?”

The school board needed to approve the purchase that evening if they wanted to implement it this summer.

Quitslund said she didn’t think the price was too expensive.

“I don’t think this is the nicest one available,” Quitslund said. “It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles. It has every component that we need to be more efficient, to provide all the needs that we have for the board, the community and our staff members. When I look at the price I think it’s reasonable. We’re not going to get things that we’re not going to use.”

The software will cost $10,000 annually.

The school board also approved FY17 tenured teaching contracts and hired Frances Abbot as the new intensive/instructional assistant.