New website points to your child’s school

By John Johnston
Managing Editor

Point. Click. Volia!

That’s what the modern world has become accustomed to expecting; indeed, now demanding as a routine course of events -- the world literally at our fingertips.

And despite it’s much publicized payroll woes, owing to its many multi-million of dollars PeopleSoft software system, the School District of Palm Beach County has not pulled back its interest in furthering use of the eighth wonder of the world – computers.

Rather, the school district has announced a new website that will likely and eventually be used by virtually every person in Palm Beach County at one point in his or her life.

The website is called “Find My School”, and according to District Planning Director Kristin Garrison, “This is just the latest in our efforts to continually improve access and service to our school centers, the public and business community.”

The new website improves upon the previous “look-up” system by cost effectively taking advantage of the District’s new Geographic Information System (GIS) site license, Garrison said. This website tool utilizes the latest in mapping technology to provide school centers and the public with access to school information for any address in Palm Beach County.

Boundaries

Garrison said users might find schools assigned by address, and schools that are assigned to new developments. Users can also select from the list of Elementary, Middle, High or Alternative schools to access information such as the attendance boundary for each school and a link to each school’s website. In addition to providing school information, the site also allows the user to print out a map of the defined area.

This type of service benefits many district stakeholders, including parents, who want to know which schools children would attend. Developers engaged in new developments can also easily see what schools a new resident’s children would attend. Realtors can quickly address clients’ questions regarding what schools are assigned to any potential home.

“I love it; the speed is awesome. I will put this on our Edline page,” said Angelina "Gina" Ranno, Data Processor at Timber Trace Elementary.” (Edline is a web-based service that allows parents to receive up to the minute information about their child’s school and schoolwork.)

Garrison said the new website can be accessed from the Planning Department’s homepage, http://pbcschoolplanning.info and select the “find my school” button.

For more information contact Garrison at 561-434-8935.

Contact John Johnston at 561-549-0833, or at jjohnston@bocanews.com