By: J. M. Hummel

Say goodbye to printed report cards on paper, and hello to a glaring computer screen broadcasting the grades of any student anytime. This is a powerful tool which has  students and staff members reacting to in different ways. But why did the school decide to implement Genesis over so many others like it? The answer according to Mr. Siwiak, Manager of Information Technology, is that “the old system was antiquated; the state requested more reports and this reinforces our integrity.” he continued, stating “this is a useful tool that is aligned with state reports and it’s pretty user friendly”. These points placed Genesis above similar programs. The strongest assets of Genesis are that it is user friendly and a single database. The fact that it is a single database allows teachers and administrators to look up grades dating back years without tracking down individual documents. In the words of Mr. Siwiak, “we could track down a 16-year-old brown haired kid quickly with the system”; proving its preciseness.  

 The biggest reason the program itself has had so much ‘buzz’ lately is because people have different opinions of it. Joseph Schwartz, graphics teacher, says “I like it, I didn’t at first but I do now.” Mr. Schwartz is one of the more technologically inclined teachers in the school and he believes that the most useful aspect of it is its communication tools. He says he can message parents and upload the notes from his classes. The most important part, to him, is the “fast access to data, it takes 4-5 seconds for me to access where people are.”

Some teachers are even more open to this program such as Ms. Van Doren, a special education teacher. She said, “I love it! I think it’s a great program for parents and teachers.” She finds it to be useful because “it makes computing grades much easier and it breaks it down any way you want.” This is huge because it allows teachers a decent amount of freedom in how they set up their grading system. The only thing she finds as being an issue is that “not everyone accesses or takes full advantage of this.” That said, there are some parents who are not exactly technologically savvy and prefer not to use the new system.

Some teachers, especially the “veterans” find the system to be quite different from their normal way of grading. Mr. Rosen, a history teacher, said “I don’t hate it, but I am learning about it.” Mrs. Van Doren is actually teaching him the ins and outs of the program, and although it takes awhile to get used to, he likes it. He enthusiastically said that “for a dinosaur I’m getting the hang of it, and some kinks need to be worked out but I like the instant feedback.”  

The most diverse reaction of the program would be from the students. Some students, such as seniors Mara Gahrman, Katherine Jimenez, and Shannon Coghlan say “I love Genesis.” This is their consensus because they can see their current averages, helping them see where they need to improve. Senior Brooke Astor says that “I really like it. I like being up to date on my grades.” It is a very useful tool in the hands of students. However some students, who wish to remain anonymous, have told me that it is a conspiracy, or that they would hack into it if they could. Senior Katie Makinowski says “I’d rather have a paper copy of my report card,” which is truly understandable. Some people prefer to have a hard copy of their accomplishments in front of them.

 As said previously, an anonymous student says he would hack into it if he could. According to Mr. Siwiak, “anything is possible but we have every precaution in place.” Specifically this includes firewalls which are the basic form of keeping people out, and key logging software which records every keystroke on the site itself.  Key logging software indicates to the Mr. Siwiak that a potential threat has occurred.  In the end, Genesis is similar to some systems but is different in features.  Other schools which use this system include: Jackson High School, North Brunswick High School, Edison High School, South River High School, and Linden High School.  The program appears to be positive, but only time will tell what the future may bring.