Good evening students, staff, families and community,
Staff all around the district are busy preparing to welcome students back to campus on Wednesday, August 31st. Classes for students K-5 will begin at 8:20, and the bell will ring for 6-12 students at 8:17.
As you may have heard, the district went through a software conversion this summer for our student information system. The new product, Qmlativ (pronounced cumulative or just “Q” for short), comes with several changes that will impact our families. As with any software conversion there have been some bumps in the road, and there is a learning curve for all involved. Our staff are working hard to smooth things out and get everything ready, but there are a few things you may notice;
Family Access:
The new Family Access is now available and open to all families. This was formerly referred to as Skyward or Skyward Family Access, and although it is still technically a Skyward product, with the conversion to Q we thought it might be easier for all if we dropped the reference to the software vendor and simply refer to it as Family Access. If you need help accessing it, please view the slideshow at the bottom of our new Family Access page on our website.
New Payment Portal - InTouch:
In conjunction with the switch to “Q”, we are also moving to a new payment processing system called InTouch. This will include the ability to make payments online for things like lunch accounts, athletics fees, and donations.
As of now, you can use InTouch to put money on your student’s lunch account by following the link in Family Access. (Select Food Service and then click on Pay with InTouch.) Your login credentials for InTouch are the same as those for Family Access. It may take up to two business days for those payments to be reflected on the account in Family Access, but students will not be denied in the meal line.
All types of payments can still be taken at your student’s school office.
Free and Reduced Meal Application and Consent to Share Form
Free and Reduced Meal Applications are available online through Family Access. If your student qualifies, and you wish to share information about the eligibility with other district departments in order for your student to receive additional services (such as free or reduced athletic fees), a Consent to Share form must be completed. We are working with Qmaltiv to have the Consent to Share form added to the online process in Family Access, but for now you can find it on our website, along with the meal applications in other languages.
Busing Information:
We had hoped to have bus routes available in Family Access by today, but the software conversion has delayed this process. We are working on one last piece to make sure the information is accurate, and will send additional communication about bus routes before the first day of school.
If you are new to our district or need to make changes to current transportation, please visit our web page and click on the Bus Transportation Request and Rules Summary Form. Some bus routes are changing from last year, so please pay close attention to your student’s stop location, time and bus route number in Family Access.
We are hiring! If you’re interested in becoming a School Bus Driver, please contact us. If you have questions or concerns, please email or call 360-332-0700.
Teaching and Learning:
A tremendous amount of work has been happening around our campuses in the last two weeks as our educators prepare for the start of the new school year. We’ve been highlighting some of this collaboration on our social media accounts, and I hope you’ve had the chance to keep up with what our teachers have been up to. We look forward to continuing to share stories throughout the school year about the great work being done on behalf of our community’s students as we remain focused on quality instruction and collaboration in support of student outcomes.
It’s a great night to be a Borderite, and, as always, a great night to be your superintendent.
Sincerely,
Dr. Christopher Granger
Each Student. Each Day.