MiSiS: 45,000 STUDENTS MISSING FROM LOS ANGELES UNIFIED’S NEW TRACKING SYSTEM

Thomas Himes | Contra Costa Times (LAUSD might as well amuse Northern California too!) | http://bit.ly/1qOB7Fy

Posted:   08/29/2014 02:06:56 PM PDT  ::  In the third week of school, an estimated 45,000 students were missing from the Los Angeles Unified School District’s new computer system, according to a union that represents principals and administrators.

Those students were not listed in the district’s faulty record-keeping system, MiSiS, as of Monday, according to the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles. For its report, the union used an established system that forecasts enrollment, called E-cast.

Although district officials had previously said that less than 1 percent of students were affected by the faulty system, the report released Thursday by the union is the first supported measurement of widespread problems in the 650,000-student school system.

“We cannot begin to tell you the countless numbers of calls that have come into AALA about this catastrophe,” stated the report that was sent to union members.

District officials did not immediately answer questions about the report.

At one unidentified elementary school, MiSiS listed 11,000 students as being enrolled, according to the report. At another school, MiSiS had zero students enrolled.

On Sept. 12, all LAUSD schools will need to report their enrollment to the district for “norm day” – a process used to allocate funding and resources to campuses. If the computer system is not accurately reporting all students, the work will have to be done by hand.

“It also means that administrators and staff are going to be even more overworked trying to do a hand count of the number of students enrolled in the schools,” the report stated.

Counselors and other administrators have already worked overtime, dusting off old ledgers and breaking out pencils to schedule students by hand after the system’s disastrous launch on school’s first day, Aug. 12.