The first day of walk-in enrollment for Great Bend High School saw shorter lines than previous years. Principal Tim Fries said many parents had already enrolled their students from home, online.
Walk-in enrollment started Tuesday and concluded Wednesday at all Great Bend USD 428 schools. This is the first year that on-line enrollment was offered. It was also the only option for returning students. Those who came to school to enroll were led to computers, and coached through the online enrollment process.
At Great Bend High School, Monica Johnson was able to enroll her two students in about 15 minutes.
“It wasn’t bad,” she said. “It went real smooth.”
Fries estimates it used to take about 30 minutes to enroll a student, using paper forms.
Some parents did part of the enrollment from home, but visited the schools to finish the process or pay fees. (Those who wish can pay online with a credit card, but there is a small processing fee.) At the high school, students could get an activity pass. There was also a table set up for those enrolling in Barton Community College classes. The Panther Booster Club also had a table set up at the high school.
At Riley Elementary School, Principal JoAnn Blevins said about 50 percent of her students were enrolled as of Wednesday morning. But many more were enrolled by mid-afternoon, and she was pleased with the new system.
“It does save time for parents,” Blevins said. She recalled a parent with eight children, who used to have to fill out eight sets of paperwork and travel to three or four different schools. With the new system, all of the students could be enrolled from one computer.
It will also save school employees time, Blevins noted. In the past, information from every form parents filled out by hand then had to be entered into a computer. That time can be better spent preparing for student instruction, she said.