School District Makes Switch to New Online Student Database System

School officials say they are taking extra steps to ensure that the new online computer database system Genesis will run smoothly when it goes live in time for the new school year.

Dr. Mark Porto, superintendent, told parents during the board of education meeting last Thursday that staff members are reviewing all students schedules to ensure that there are no mixups before schedules go out mid-August. The district is moving away from its former online database system Renweb to Genesis which Porto explained is being used in more than 65 percent of school districts and is said to be user friendly.

Porto said the board begun discussing the idea of moving to a new online database system about a year ago.  By February of this year the board had already decided it would switch over to the new database when the district was notified by Renweb that it would no longer support New Jersey school districts.

The district will host a community outreach forum, scheduled for Aug. 31, designed to educate parents on the system. Porto said computers will be available at the forum so parents can have the opportunity to explore the system.

Porto added that the Genesis system is already up and running but staffers are working to ensure that all is okay before moving over to it completely in order to have a seamless transition.