'Unacceptable' Delays In Elmhurst Park Registrations

ELMHURST, IL – A solution may be on the way to answer parents' frustrations with the Elmhurst Park District's online registration system.

Late last month, the park board decided to hire an outside technology consultant to help choose new registration software for activities.

The yet-to-be chosen consultant is expected to begin work later this month and make a recommendation by September, the district said in a news release.

Once the new software is selected, it is expected to take 18 months to make the switch, the district said.

The district has used its current software provider, Vermont Systems, since late 2015. After "glitches" in 2016 and 2018, the district made some improvements, the news release said.

After the changes, the district proceeded with 14 registrations in a row without issues, the district said.

During the pandemic, the district experienced lower-than-normal registration numbers. But in February 2022, it experienced a big increase – 61 percent over the pre-pandemic spring registration, the district said.

The high volume, the district said, caused the problems to return, with customers experiencing "unacceptable delays and errors," the release said. It became apparent the software would not meet local needs, the district said.

"We need to undertake efforts to find another solution, in the hopes that we can find something that we believe is better," Jim Rogers, the district's executive director, said in the news release.

In the meantime, the release said, the district is making changes to improve the registration experience.

This includes starting duplicate login alerts and separating out gymnastics registration and large events to reduce traffic volume.

In March, resident Nora Braxton created a Change.org petition to call for the district to make changes to the system.

The petition says parents are frustrated that registration accessibility is limited to those who are at a computer at 8 a.m. on a specific Saturday.

More than 250 people have signed the petition.