NLR schools suspend registration after computer crash

Jo Ann McCandless uses information off her cellphone to fill out registration forms for her 6-year old triplets, two of whom, Abbey (left) and Ella pass the time playing with stuffed animals Thursday at Lakewood Elementary School in North Little Rock. The two girls and their triplet brother William (not shown) will be attending Crestwood Elementary School in the North Little Rock School District. Registration was suspended Thursday afternoon because of computer glitches.
Jo Ann McCandless uses information off her cellphone to fill out registration forms for her 6-year old triplets, two of whom, Abbey (left) and Ella pass the time playing with stuffed animals Thursday at Lakewood Elementary School in North Little Rock. The two girls and their triplet brother William (not shown) will be attending Crestwood Elementary School in the North Little Rock School District. Registration was suspended Thursday afternoon because of computer glitches.

North Little Rock School District leaders decided Thursday night to temporarily suspend the mandatory citywide student registration period that was scheduled for early next week at North Little Rock Middle School.

The registration, which is required for all new and returning district students in the 9,000-student district, started this past week at two locations but was plagued Wednesday and Thursday at Lakewood Elementary with hours-long lines for parents and, ultimately, a crash of the computer system.

Superintendent Kelly Rodgers apologized Thursday for the glitches and said that an online registration system will be made available -- probably within a week -- as a new option for parents, in addition to the option of registering their children in person at a school site.

"It's about customer service and this was not customer service," Rodgers said Thursday in an interview about the Lakewood site problems. "It was not our purpose to inconvenience parents," he said.

The already troubled registration process had to be halted before closing time Thursday afternoon at Lakewood Elementary because of a cut to a water pipe that flooded a technology room at Crestwood Elementary, Rodgers said. That affected the computer service feed to Lakewood.

"After observing the last two days ... we realized that we needed to back up and make some changes," Rodgers said, adding that the registration is hampered by a lack of available school sites that aren't affected by building, parking lot or road construction.

The district is in the midst of what started as a $265 million dollar capital improvement program that is reducing what were 21 campuses to 13 schools. Twelve of the 13 are being built anew or extensively renovated.

The North Little Rock public school system does not typically require its returning students to physically register for each new school year.

This year, however, the district is moving student information from the Arkansas Public School Computer Network to the state's e-School system, North Little Rock Deputy Superintendent Beth Stewart said. As part of that transition, district officials are trying to obtain up-to-date, correct information on all students, Stewart said.

District officials said more information about registration will be made available to district parents in the next few days through the news media, recorded "robo-calls" to homes and on the district's website and Facebook page.

Parents seeking to register their children must provide proof of their address by showing a current utility bill or a lease or mortgage agreement. The parents also must provide a working telephone number and they will be asked for an email address, although that is not required.

Parents of students new to the district must also show a birth certificate for their child, the child's immunization record, Social Security number and information from the child's previous school.

Metro on 07/17/2015

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