This commentary is in response to the article regarding openStudent (鈥淪aanich schools scrap $1.5M student tracker,鈥� March 8). More importantly, it is to provide the context as to why this project was initiated in the first place, and why it was so appealing to school districts across B.C.
The openStudent software project is about providing the highest-quality tools, at the lowest possible cost, to the B.C. education community for delivering education to our children. Technologies need to align directly with the needs of all stakeholders so we can improve education delivery for our diverse student body.
The only way to do this is by connecting directly and continuously with the people who use the software.
The current B.C. Enterprise Student Information System did not serve stakeholders well and, in the end, cost taxpayers more than $200 million.
Education is an important social issue, and the reality is that commercial companies will put shareholder needs in front of stakeholder needs. While private enterprise makes perfect sense in most industries, it makes little sense for education. OpenStudent is a non-commercial approach. It is continuously responsive to the needs of the education community, and was being developed and operated in a lean way.
The support for the openStudent project from district stakeholders has been enormous from the beginning. The idea of building a custom system for B.C. was endorsed at a meeting in February 2011 that was attended by 44听districts, plus ministry personnel. Since that time, 48 districts have shown their support through attendance at presentations, collaborating directly with the development team, attending workshops, signing letters of support and/or joining the consortium to govern operations.
The single biggest problem for听openStudent uptake was timing. Districts had to make a choice听while openStudent was still听under development.
The Education Ministry said:
鈥� 鈥淪aanich should have known all along that any system would have to integrate with the B.C. Services card.鈥�
Saanich was aware of the need to work within the Provincial Identity Information Management/ BCeID framework as described in the request for proposals. They also met with the Ministry of Citizen Services on several occasions to discuss privacy, security, hosting opportunities and the BCeID integration. However, the description in the RFP was non-specific and in no way indicated the extent of the requirement or that the cost of compliance would be in the millions.
鈥� Saanich 鈥渄idn鈥檛 even meet the minimum requirements.鈥�
Saanich鈥檚 disqualification from the RFP had nothing to do with our ability to develop a student information system or to operationalize the application for districts in B.C. We were disqualified because we were not an 鈥渆xisting legal entity.鈥� The RFP also stated:
鈥淚n addition, a proponent or a member of the proponent team should demonstrate that it has a minimum of either $100 million in annual revenues or $10 million annual net income in each of the last three years.鈥�
One of the key reasons for initiating the openStudent project was to move away from big, commercial, U.S.-based companies for the provision of a student information system. We learned very clearly from BCeSIS that this approach doesn鈥檛 work; it strips districts of control, provides no flexibility for change, does not provide the educational functionality needed, and costs exorbitant amounts of money.
鈥� 鈥溾�� That they have invested a lot of taxpayers鈥� money.鈥�
Saanich School District invested money in the openStudent project and it did so in good faith after being reassured on many occasions that the ministry would not mandate a student information system. In comparison, the ministry and B.C. school districts have spent an estimated $200 million on BCeSIS. They are now prepared to spend similar amounts on its replacement.
Saanich reasoned that for a modest investment of under $4听million, and significantly lower operational costs, taxpayers would get far better value from this not-for-profit system.
鈥� 鈥�... They don鈥檛 have a system that is even close to being ready.鈥�
The core version of openStudent is, in fact, ready and is set to go live in four districts in September 2014. The feedback from user-acceptance testing in 44 different schools over the past year has been overwhelmingly positive.
Neither the District of Saanich nor the openStudent development team has any desire to do battle with the ministry. We are all on the same team. What we have always wanted, and still want, is to do what is best for students, teachers, school staff, the ministry and taxpayers.
To do that, we need to collaborate and share our ideas, even when our opinions differ. When this happens, everyone wins.
听
Tim Agnew is project manager for openStudent.
