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MAISD check to be issued despite computer failure

Wednesday, December 8, 1999

By Teresa Taylor-Williams CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

School districts that depend on the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District for bookkeeping will have paychecks ready for staff this week, despite a major computer failure.

This morning, the accounting and payroll functions of the intermediate school district's computer system were still floundering from a Y2K "test" conducted by computer programmers Friday.

The test found that the system is Y2K-ready. But the intermediate school district's technology experts were still having problems bringing the system back up this morning.

On Tuesday, employees from 13 districts - including Shelby, Spring Lake and districts in Muskegon County - came to the MAISD to run payrolls by hand and from the nine computers loaned to the MAISD from Sappi Fine Paper Co., said Rosemary Cary, director of the MAISD's regional technology center.

Through a massive computer network, the MAISD is linked to 34 school districts in Muskegon County and nearby counties. They provide bookkeeping services such as accounting and student records.

Michael Bozym, superintendent of the MAISD, said this morning that in crisis situations like these, one would think more school officials would be upset with the MAISD.

"Frustration could easily lead to anger toward our central office, and some people are frustrated," said Bozym. "But they are working together as a partnership."

John Robertson, technology coordinator for Ravenna Public Schools, said his district is having problems updating attendance records, and searching student records, tasks they temporarily are performing by hand.

But his is one of many districts who support the MAISD's efforts to reconfigure the computer system.

"They plan and prepare very well in leading us, and identifying and providing services we don't even know we need yet," he said. "Right now they've run into a bad glitch that could happen to anybody, but they have some of the best people working on it."

MAISD officials are still communicating heavily with IBM, their computer system's maker, doing what they can to get the system back up and running, officials said.

"You always have a contingency plan that you hope you never have to use, and I think everyone is in that mindset these days with Y2K," said Cary.

The "Y2K bug" stems from the fact that older computers may not recognize the last two digits of 2000 as the new year, but may read it as 1900.

Businesses, utility companies and government agencies in the U.S. have spent an estimated $100 billion in advance of the new year to keep computers from crashing, and most experts believe problems will be minimal.

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), December 09, 1999

Answers

" ... This morning, the accounting and payroll functions of the intermediate school district's computer system were still floundering from a Y2K "test" conducted by computer programmers Friday."

-- o o (oo@oo.oo), December 09, 1999.

Hmmmn. Last Friday = test was run.

Today (the next Thursday, six days later - despite rushed repairs and emergency procedures, and no other problems or failures) .... the "glitch" - Lord I'm getting to hate that word - sounds so innocent, doesn't it? - is still with them... one program, one computer, one process, several small school districts, and only one state.....

But Mr Richardson, Mr Koskinian, and apparently the rest of the media think the problems will get fixed in three days?

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 09, 1999.

test test test

-- l (s@a.n), December 10, 1999.