By Pete Temple, Express Sports Editor

Last year was the first one for e-registration within the Monticello Community School District.

Considering the process was new to every parent and guardian in the district, it could be deemed a success: e-registration was completed for 85 percent of the students in the district.

“That sounds good,” said Curt Tauke, district technology facilitator, “but you’re still talking about 150 or more kids whose information is not up-to-date or complete. We’re hoping to improve on that this year.”

E-registration enables parents to enter their children’s information online, at their convenience prior to registration, saving them significant amounts of time when they arrive at the school to pay fees, pick up handbooks, etc.

Before, parents had to fill out the information on emergency contacts, health concerns, permission and more by hand for each child.

“There is little to do (at registration) compared to what you used to do,” Tauke said. “It will significantly shorten the amount of time they have to spend at registration if they have done it in advance.”

E-registration has been opened for the coming school year, and is under way.

The process begins with parents completing the Single Parent Log On procedure. Once completed, it allows parents to see multiple children with a single log in username and password. Those who completed that lat year will not have to do so again.

Once that is completed, the next step is to go to the Parent PowerSchool log in page and log in with your PowerSchool username and password. The address is http://ps-monticello.gwaea.org/public/.

That gets you to the PowerSchool Parent Portal screen, where each of your children will be displayed, and the updating process can begin. You only need to enter information that needs to be changed, updated or is missing. If the information is correct, you will not need to do anything with that information.

Letters have been mailed to parents who either have moved into the district, or are registering a child for the first time. Those who received letters last year will not get one this year. But for those who have forgotten how to go through the process, full instructions are available on the school website.

If parents/guardians run into trouble or have questions when trying to update their children’s information, help is available. Two call-in dates have been scheduled for that purpose: July 26, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and July 27, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Parents may call 319-465-3575, ext. 2280 during those times to receive help over the phone.

The district will also have staff available to help during registration Aug. 6 and 7, at the high school. Parents who have not completed e-registration will be asked to do so in the high school computer lab, with staff members helping them through it.

E-registration consists of a series of online pages, all of which must be completed separately for each child. Those include student demographics, parent contact information, emergency contacts, medical information, health, permission, and a “finish” screen.

Parents who have already done this for a child may simply go through and make sure the information is still up-to-date. It must be re-entered for any child that is starting school for the first time.

The site will be open throughout the school year in case contact or other information changes. Parents can simply go in and make the necessary changes at any time.

As a security measure, all updates from parents go into a “pending” status in the system. Building secretaries are automatically notified when changes have been made, and they review every change request and provide final approval into the PowerSchool files.

Eventually, the district hopes to have a system in which lunch fees can be paid online, but this will not be available until later in the school year.

The school’s website is www.monticello.k12.ia.us.