MyEdBC Continues to Challenge Clerical Workers
Prince George, B.C. – CUPE Local 3742 president Karen Wong says the province’s new data input system, MyEducationBC, is continuing to challenge clerical workers throughout the Prince George School District.
“I wouldn’t say there has been any improvement in the program,” says Wong, who first went public with her concerns at last month’s public school board meeting.
“The program is what it is but there has been improvements to the work conditions in the overtime that’s been worked and they’re being compensated for it.”
She says the overtime continues to have a negative effect on their duties though.
“Some work sites are still working extra hours and others are just putting work on hold for now,” says Wong. “They are prioritizing work and leaving some work undone.”
Ironically, she says the $95 million MyEdBC was brought in to replace and improve upon the $84-$90 million BCeSIS student tracking computer system.
“Whether it’s a change in a cell phone number or a change in some information from a student, it (MyEdBC) means multiple clicking and multiple windows to open and close to input that data,” says Wong.
“So you multiply each of those student information sheets by five or 10 minutes when BCeSIS used to be able to do it in less than a minute. Either program wasn’t ideal but unfortunately our clericals are saying BCeSIS was the better program.”
Despite the challenges, she says the school district’s response has been phenomenal.
“After our presentation we had responses from the superintendent, the director of human resources, they said the presentation was powerful and impactful and they thanked us because they weren’t quite aware of what was going on at the work site.”
Aside from covering overtime, Wong says the district has been addressing the issue by looking at ways to streamline the program and making it more accessible.
“The system continues to improve weekly,” says Superintendent of Schools Brian Pepper.
“As Ministry of Education and the application development team from Fujitsu work diligently to address every concern raised by school districts in our province.”
Comments
The same complaints were heard with BCeSIS…could it be the same secretaries who do not like change ?
Posted on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 @ 6:55 AM by oldman1 with a score of 0
The same complaints were heard with BCeSIS…could it be the same secretaries who do not like change ?
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The union is obligated to complain, it’s the only way they can stay in business.
Obviously neither of the two of you have ever dealt with a complex database program which allows you little flexibility. You have to deal with the programmers errors, not the clerk’s errors.
Who instructed the programmers and who validated its working characteristics? That is the first question I would ask.
This is not a local problem. This is going on in other locations as well.
storify.com/bctf/problem-with-myeducationbc-pile-up
boundarysentinel.com/news/kootenay-lake-school-district-staff-scramble-fix-scheduling-problems-caused-my-education-bc-dat#.VjDxwemFO00
twitter.com/hashtag/myeducationbc
Of course the mindset comes with the hatred of teachers.
You two just march over there and show them how it’s done. I don’t think reading comprehension is your strong suite.
Posted on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 @ 9:08 AM by seamutt with a score of -1
You two just march over there and show them how it’s done. I don’t think reading comprehension is your strong suite.
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My comprehension is just fine thank you. It’s a benefit of not going through the public school system.
My comprehension is just fine…heard the same complaints with the previous system.
Axman so home schooled ? If so did your parents do home dentistry ? or did they take you to a professional..?
A good laugh at all the haters and negative comments that are on 250 news everyday… You all must be such a joy to be around in the real world. Trolls.
Funny how quickly this descended into personal attacks!
As for the new data base management system, anyone who has ever worked with one will tell you that there is a steep learning curve, and then you settle into a routine where you know the basics of the system, and how to accomplish your particular tasks. At some point change is introduced flushing that bit of equilibrium, and the whole learning curve starts again…this introduces stress, and the usual fight or flight syndrome causing people to complain rather than embrace the change and try to learn!
This same scenario is played out in countless private companies every day, but we don’t see it in the headlines. However when it happens in government it becomes newsworthy because of the political component. In industry management would be saying to their employees, here is the training you need, now learn to cope, and if you can’t perhaps it’s time to find some other line of work…In government they eventually get to the same place, but with much longer timelines.
Reminiscent of the 100+ million MCFD supposed data /program upgrade that caused a lot of problems. Pretty sure posters on here blamed the union and lazy government workers for that one also.
Posted on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 @ 11:13 AM by P Val with a score of -5
Axman so home schooled ? If so did your parents do home dentistry ? or did they take you to a professional..?
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That doesn’t make any sense.
Actually it makes ample sense to me.
There are some professions as well as trades which are looked up to for the special knowledge and skills people who are practitioners have. I am in one of those professions, architecture.
Even though it is a protected profession under provincial laws, everyone has an opinion but they typically lack the knowledge and the skills.
Law is somewhat the same, in that lawyers generally do not have a good reputation.
Al professions and trades, the same as any vocation, have those that are absolutely excellent, those who are competent by do not stand out, and those who are barely meeting the minimum standard. But, that is all they have to do in order to continue practicing their profession/trade/vocation, and everyone gets.
Doctors, Dentists, even University Professors typically do not have to defend what they do. Auto Mechanics are the same, in my opinion. Not too many people have the knowledge, the skills and the experience to tackle serious car maintenance.
Everyone gets judged by those who barely make the minimum standard, especially so when there is a union involved.
That sentence should have been written as: “But, that is all they have to do in order to continue practicing their profession/trade/vocation, and everyone gets judged by those who practice at the lowest level of competence.”
Some should read the post over again. Sounds to me the complaints go beyond learning a new system. Seems to me the new system has complicated and increased the work flow over the old system.
If you will google the problem you will discover numerous reports out there by people including professional database developers to the effect that the system is at fault, not lazy, stupid, unwilling to learn teachers. Among other things they point to poor networking and software not designed to scale to this level.
Bill googling requires effort by many on this site.
MyEdBC does not do what the education ministry says it should do. It is time consuming for teachers to make up for what it lacks (in some cases teachers are using paper to make up for the deficiencies). It also means that the support staff is doing more work than they previously did because of the database to ensure that all the fields are filled. If the government wanted to realize a cost saving they would check for all existing databases and see what they can do (in regards to their requirements) and then make a decision. It would be easier and more cost effective to change a proven product then it would be to create a new database.
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