MyEducationBC Causing Headaches for Clerical Workers in PG School District
Prince George, B.C. – MyEducationBC, the province’s new $95 million student information system, has made for a frustrating start to the school year for clerical workers in School District 57.
CUPE local 3742 president Karen Wong, who’s union represents the workers, expressed her members dismay with the system during tonight’s monthly board meeting.
“MyEdBC is slow to the point of total frustration,” said Wong, reading from a long list of complaints. “With all the extra work with MyEdbc, it’s hard to perform all my duties.”
“I can change the oil in my car faster than this system works,” read another. “If MyEd was a used car it would be a lemon.”
Those were just some of the examples Wong shared with the board, who were clearly disturbed with what they heard.
“I don’t know how to respond. That was a very powerful report,” said board chair Tony Cable.”We need to talk to the ministry about this program.”
The board later passed a motion asking the district send a letter to the Minister of Education expressing concern with the performance and function of the MyEdBC program and the extra workload and burden it’s placed on district staff.
MyEdBC was brought in this year to replace the $89-million BCeSIS student tracking computer system.
Comments
When dealing with databases, it is more prudent to look at freeware and find software that does what the government wants than it is to contract to a third party to create a new database. They can alter the software to meet the specific demands as opposed to looking to create something new. Why did the government elect to spend so much money on something that was not really functional as opposed to trying to find something that met most of their needs and altering it to meet all of the needs?
Wong is known to exaggerate at the best of times. When BCESIS was implemented years ago the same complaints were heard by the same secretaries as they are today..some don’t want to learn or change.
It is possible that the clerical workers don’t yet know how to use the system efficiently, but the possibility that it doesn’t work well should not be dismissed. These big government database projects have a terrible track record. In the States the FBI recently junked a system that cost US$300 million – they’re starting over again from scratch.
Here’s a report from SD70 that the system is very slow:
Alberni Valley Times.
Typical liberal party fiasco.. spend 100 million to replace 100 million program.. and dont run a alpha or beta test before release..
Just jam it down the school boards throats to deal with.
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