When school starts back in August, the Cherokee County School District (CCSD) will introduce a new system designed to reduce paper waste and parents’ valuable time.
The Back to School Gateway is a paperless, online registration system that replaces the dreaded stack of first-day forms with a digital check and update of existing contact and emergency notification information in our system.
Even better, instead of a pile of papers for each of your children to be completed, with nearly identical information, once you finish the secure online process for your first child, the process gets even simpler for siblings. The only paper in the process will be for middle and high school students to sign a receipt of their student handbook and discipline code.
The Back to School Gateway will launch in late July on the school district’s website at www.cherokeek12.net, with announcements online and on CCSD’s social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn). Also, parents will receive an email alert through CCSD’s School Messenger notification system.
Superintendent of Schools Brian V. Hightower shared that, previously, he and his wife would play rock-paper-scissors to see who got stuck with the job of filling out first-day forms for their children.
My trick was to print one set of forms from CCSD’s website in advance, complete the common info, and then make a copy before filling out the details unique to each child.
Hightower recognized that any system that requires tricks, or a fast hand at rock-paper-scissors, is not a system worth keeping, so he asked the Office of Technology and Information Systems staff to find a better way. The staff has spent the past two years making it happen − searching for the right platform, fine-tuning the details, training staff. Not only is this system better for parents, it’s also more efficient for staff, and increases the accuracy of important information.
The Back to School Gateway is the final step in an online transition that CCSD successfully began in late winter with kindergarten registration, and continued in the spring with enrollment for students new to our community. The enrollment system, called the New Student Gateway, is accessible through www.cherokeek12.net and remains open year-round. For families new to our school district, it takes about 15 minutes and a quick visit to the school to verify required enrollment documents you upload from home.
We hope you enjoy your summer break … and are ready for an easier first day of school than ever before.
By Barbara P. Jacoby, contributing writer and she serves as Chief Communications Officer for the Cherokee County School District. She also is a CCSD parent with four children.
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