District 201 Modernizes Registration Process

August 15, 2014 | Filed under: Citizen Bloggers | Posted by: Michael Flaherty +

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District 201 Modernizes Registration Process

District 201 educates over 8,000 students, making fall registration no easy task. In the past years, students and parents waited in lines that appeared to grow faster than they moved. This year, Morton modernized its registration process with online registration in hopes of significantly reducing wait times.

“Major overhaul of the registration process started back in April, with early residency checks that parents could do online,” explained Ali Mehanti, CFO of Morton. Online registration opened in April and was available through June for parents to register and pay registration fees online. For families without a computer or internet access Morton hosted open computer labs, allowing parents to complete online registration with the assistance of Morton personnel. “I visited one of the open labs and saw many parents receiving one on one training from our staff,” said Mehanti. “Overall, parents were feeling positive about our efforts to improve the registration process.”

Students were also given the option of submitting residency checks during supervisory hours for returning sophomores and juniors. The elimination of residency checks for future seniors was decided as school code, this allows students who began their high school career with Morton to finish their final year of school with Morton. This also allowed for a quicker registration process for returning seniors, and shorter lines for other students registering. For students who took part in early residency checks and online registration, their registration packets were customized in colored cover sheets. These color coordinated covers directed students and parents to the exact entrance at time of registration, leading them to the remaining station needed to complete the process. “This year, many families took advantage of the option to register online and show residency in advance, and their wait times were significantly reduced,” said Morton East Assistant Principal Dr. Michael Parrie.

The elimination of several stations during registration also contributed to speedy lines. Morton sophomores, juniors, and seniors no longer take their yearbook photos or ID photos during registration. Yearbook photos for sophomores and juniors will be taken September 16^th through the 18^th during supervisory. Yearbook photos for seniors will be taken November 12^th through the 17^th during Physical Education class. All returning students will be using the photo ID from their previous school year. Fee sheets and barcodes are no longer completed during registration. Both fee sheets and barcodes were mailed home to students as part of their registration packets, as well as class schedules. “These changes were brought on to reduce the long lines during registration,” said Morton East Principal Mr. Jose Gamboa. “Morton hopes in future school years that families take advantage of these opportunities to register online and do residency checks in advance so that wait times can be further reduced.”

Overall, the feedback from this year’s registration has been extremely positive. Modernizing the registration process eliminated long lines and wait times. Families who participated in early residency checks and paid registration fees online aided in expediting the entire process, especially for those who opted out of using online registration; as there were less people in line ahead of them.

“People were showing up hours in advance anticipating the usual wait of previous years, but once registration started families realized there was no need for getting there early. The lines were moving really fast,” noted School Board President Jeffry Pesek.

“The goal for next year is to get more families registering online,” said Superintendent Dr. Michael Kuzniewski. “We are very excited about the success of our first year of online registration and we couldn’t have done it without the hard work of our operations team.”

J. Sterling Morton High School District 201 provides quality educational experiences that challenge and enable more than 8,000 students from the communities of Berwyn, Cicero, Forest View, Lyons, McCook, and Stickney as lifelong learners to be productive and responsible members of the global community. The district’s Board of Education is comprised of Board President Jeff Pesek, Secretary Jessica Jaramillo-Flores, and members Mark Kraft, Margaret Kelly, Michael Iniquez, and Kasumba “Kal” Lwanga. Visit District 201 online at www.Morton201.org.

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By Josue Duarte

Community Outreach Coordinator

J. Sterling Morton High School District 201