Readers React: L.A. Unified School District’s MISIS crisis

To the editor: The Los Angeles Unified School District’s new $20-million “My Integrated Student Information System” (MISIS) has left schools paralyzed. (“L.A. Unified teachers decry new student tracking system,” Aug. 20)

Staff training consisted of showing pictures of “what it should look like,” because the system was not yet ready. A new grade book feature that will help teachers record, and parents view, children’s progress won’t be functional until November.

For L.A. Unified officials to say that MISIS is “mostly working” exaggerates the truth, unless their criteria is “doesn’t crash the computer,” or maybe, “won’t spill milk during breakfast in the classroom.” If MISIS prevents school staff from obtaining simple reports or looking up parent contact information, a hasty implementation is much closer to the truth.

The district is in a MISIS crisis.

Frank Cooper, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Honestly, first $112 million and then $20 million for systems to figure out where the students were? I seem to remember this simple conversation taking place before each class, and it worked:

“Smith?” “Present.”

“Jones?” “Here.”

“Coonce? Coonce?” “Oh, sorry, here.” “See me after class.”

Well, it went something like that. We knew where we were supposed to be every minute, and the pay went to the teachers rather than vendors.

Ed Coonce, Encinitas