Student Information System for Faith-Based Schools

As part of our continuing fireside chat series, we interviewed Pastor Scott Van Kirk, Principal of Finger Lakes Christian School in Seneca Falls, NY. With 82 students in grades K-12, Finger Lakes Christian School was one of our earlier customers. They have been using QuickSchools since September 2009.

As an earlier adopter of QuickSchools, Principal Van Kirk and the Finger Lakes Christian School helped shape the current version of the tool. All of the suggestions Principal Van Kirk “made were taken seriously and many have been implemented.”

Principal Van Kirk discussed the support feature and how “we have engaged with a lot of vendors over the years and QuickSchools has the best support. They are available at all times on the chat or phone and the response times are very rapid and of good quality.” He further explained, “QuickSchools support has been the best I have experienced in over 21 years in education and 32 years in school and business.”

Hear from Principal Van Kirk directly on his experience with QuickSchools:

When asked about how the staff is responding to QuickSchools, Principal Van Kirk said that “report cards have become a joy” and he can do the entire process in one day. In addition, they have become huge fans of the parent portal, which is second to the report card feature. The Parent Portal feature saves the school time as everything falls on the parent to check attendance, discipline, tests, and homework.

Hear Van Kirk talk about what it was like to manage discipline and if a child had a downward trend in grades before become a QuickSchools user:

QuickSchools’ biggest selling point for Principal Van Kirk is that it’s completelyonline and they don’t have a system or updates to purchase. The Finger Lakes Christian School talked to other schools before they purchased QuickSchools and they were using tools with a large fee that needed technical staff to run, and charged for upgrades. As a “small school with a fairly small budget, we wouldn’t have been able to afford that.”

Hear more from Van Kirk directly as he discusses scalability, another key feature of QuickSchools:

Van Kirk’s final advice to those researching online school management systems is to think about what you’re buying:

“When you are buying a product, you are buying the people. Regardless of price and features, support is 50%.”

Thank you to Principal Van Kirk for participating in our fireside chat.