School officials have not said what caused the problem but issued a statement saying the software company, Genesis, is not to blame
PARSIPPANY -- A scheduling glitch that started last week has thrown the schedules of more than 1,000 middle school students in Parsippany into chaos.
Following problems that prevented the Parsippany school district from providing computer-generated schedules to middle school students last week, the district says it is giving students "hard copies" of their schedules each day this week.
(File photo) In the latest announcement posted at the district's website, Acting Superintendent Nancy Gigante said that this week, students at the district's two middle schools, Brooklawn and Central, would be given a printed copy of their schedule on Tuesday and "for the next several mornings."
"We will do this each morning so that students will be able to see up-to-the-minute accurate schedules while we make our ongoing changes," Gigante said.
The schedules for approximately 1,600 students were not ready when they arrived at the two buildings on Thursday for the start of school. No school days were missed but students were unable to attend their regular classes on Thursday and Friday and were told to report to specific areas for activities.
"We continue to appreciate your patience and apologize for this disappointing start to the middle school year," Gigante said.
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Although a series of announcements posted at the website described the status of the schedules, none of them specifically said what caused the glitch.
In fact, one announcement specifically stated that the problems with the schedules were not caused by Genesis, the company that provides the district's student information portal along with scheduling software.
"The design of the middle school schedule presented our district with various problems when it came time for implementation," the statement said. "When solutions were chosen as a means to correct the problem, the staff at Genesis was completely supportive and willing to help."
"Genesis remains fully capable of handling all of our student information needs, including scheduling, and we are grateful to them for their assistance throughout our efforts to correct this problem," the statement concluded.
Also, in the middle of dealing with these issues, Superintendent Scott Rixford took a 30-day leave of absence.
Rixford posted announcements regarding the status of the schedules on Sept. 2 and 3, but on Sept. 4 the district announced Rixford would be taking a 30-day medical leave and Gigante, the assistant superintendent and chief academic officer, would begin serving as acting superintendent.
Gigante and Joan Benos, the district's public information officer and chief of staff, were not immediately available for comment beyond the district's public statements.
Andrew Levy, the parent of an eighth-grader at the Brooklawn School, blamed the school administration for the problems and agreed that the Genesis system is not at fault.
Genesis is "just a vendor" and its software provides a "shell" that has worked well for several years, Levy said on Tuesday morning. Rather, the problem was likely caused by school administration personnel responsible for placing the data, he said.
Levy said the district has "very good teachers" but the administration "doesn't have a clue," adding that the problem may have been caused by a change that added eight minutes to the school day.
"They've had the whole summer to deal with this," he said. ""I'm not blaming the engine of the car, I'm blaming the person putting in the information."
During the first two days of school last week, Levy said, the students were brought in large groups to specific areas and "they basically stood around and looked at each other."
Also, Levy said, his son was giving a list of teachers, but they were seventh-grade teachers although his son is in the eighth grade.
With classes ongoing on Tuesday, Levy said he hadn't gotten a chance to learn if the situation had been rectified.
Ben Horowitz may be reached at bhorowitz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @HorowitzBen. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
