The Computer Services Department is a part of the Business Office, headed by the Chief Financial Officer.  The department is responsible for maintaining awareness of industry technological advances; for implementing technological improvements into the school district; and for insuring that the district reports to state and federal authorities all the necessary data.  The department also provides ongoing computer, networking, and telephony support to all district employees.  Specific responsibilities are listed below.

1.      Core Business Systems

• Provide a Student Information System to track all student classes, grades, attendance, discipline, and transcripts; report all student information to the state Department of Education as required; we currently use JPAMS, from Edgear, Inc., a Louisiana company
• Provide a Payroll System to print paychecks, calculate deductions, and keep a payroll history for all employees; report payroll data to the state Department of Education, various state retirement system as required, and to federal authorities including the Internal Revenue Service; we currently use AccuFund
• Provide a Personnel System to track teacher certifications and qualifications and report these qualifications to the state Department of Education as required; we currently use JPAMS
• Provide an Accounting System to accurately account for all revenues and expenses of money that flow through the school district; report annual accounting data to the state Department of Education as required; we currently use AccuFund
• Provide an Asset Tracking System to accurately keep track of all items purchased which qualify for tracking under current purchasing rules; we currently use AccuFund
• Provide a Sales Tax Collection System to allow the school district to fulfill its responsibilities of sales tax collection agent for all parish entities which levy sales taxes; we currently use Southwest Computer Bureau's software, a Louisiana company
• Provide a School Food Service System which is capable of tracking students eligible for free and reduced lunch, as well as food asset tracking and food purchasing support; additionally, provide real time revenue collection capabilities in each school cafeteria; we currently use MCS Software, a Louisiana company

• Provide local computer network wiring (LAN) to interconnect every room in every building on every campus and office location to the front office of that location
• Provide a Wide-Area Network (WAN) to interconnect all campuses and buildings throughout the school district to the central office computer systems and server farm, and to the Internet portal
• Provide a fast and reliable Internet portal to allow many computers throughout the district to be able to access the Internet simultaneously
• Provide network Firewall capability to protect the school district network and computers from unauthorized access and intrusions
• Provide Internet Content Filtering to protect children and employees from undesirable content such as pornographic, hate material, racist material, and criminal material
• Provide E-Mail service to all school board employees

• Provide Telephone Service and support to every classroom and office in the school district
• Provide service and support for all private branch exchange (PBX) telephone systems at all school and office locations
• Provide Cellular Service to all employees designated by the Superintendent

• Provide a centralized Technology Policy, Planning, and Purchasing (PPP) service to all school principals, supervisors, and teachers for high technology items such as computers, software, telephony, and networking products
• Provide Personal Computer (PC Support) setup and maintenance support for all computers used throughout the school district
• Provide Server and Database support at the central office for all major applications used by district personnel
• Provide district Web Servers and Intranet Servers to make district information available to the appropriate audience
• Assists schools with School Web Server availability to allow schools to publicize their own specific information to the public

5.   Additional Student and Parent Support Database Systems

• Destiny school library system from Follett Software

• Accelerated Reader student reading encouragement system from Renaisance Learning

• Skills Tutor, an Internet service that allows students to practice for LEAP testing

• Plato Learning Environment from Plato Software, which is a student testing and assessment tool used by teachers

• Scantron Assessment from Scantron, which gives teachers the ability to create, administer, and score tests that are aligned with state Comprehensive Curriculum standards

• Orchard student learning, which is a graphical student learning system

• OnCourse, an Internet service that teachers can use to record their homework assignments and lesson plans.  The database is also accessible by parents, who can oversee their children's school work

• Parent Command Center, a parent portal into the district's student information system that allows parents to use the Internet to view their children's grades, attendance, discipline, class schedule, fees

• Seek out and obtain all available Telecommunications, Internet, and Internal Connection discounts available under the Universal Service program, a federal grant program to help schools and libraries across the United States obtain electronic services