Louise ISD upgrading student tracking software
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com

Louise school trustees bit the bullet and agreed to buy new student management software since their current version is being put out to pasture.

During the Dec. 17 meeting, trustees agreed to spend $54,739 for Skyward software, which manages all student information a school district has to track. That one-time fee includes purchase and installation of the software, conversion of the school to Skyward from its current Winschool product, and training needed to use the software.

There will be an annual fee of $4,250 each year for licensing, as well as another $1,400 owed per year for Skyward to host the school's Web site.

Not only will the system keep track of things like grades, schedules and health and immunization information, it even will include a thumbprint scanner for the cafeteria line.

"It even tracks what your child eats," LISD Superintendent Andy Peters told trustees.

Much of the gathered information will be available to the child's parent through the Web site, which will accept new data in "real time," meaning there's no delay between the time the data is entered and the time it's available for viewing.

The board approved the purchase 6-0, with trustee Pam Johnson absent.