Letter: County Board Supervisor Addresses Skyward Decision
To the Editor-
It has been many weeks since the Department of Administration and/or Department of Public Instruction (depending who you ask) has formally awarded the Statewide Student Information System (SSIS) to Infinite Campus (IC) a Minnesota based company. Skyward in my opinion should have received the awarding of this contract for many reasons.
As the storm settles, those in Madison are relieved that this can be put behind them. What appears to be some “backroom” type actions may now pass as life gets back to normal. Skyward awaits the finding on the appeal- of course there is no timeline as to when this will be announced unlike the firm timelines given to vendors that wanted to appeal. So when will we find out- after the April election when the State School Superintendent election is over? Who is reviewing the appeal, is it those at DPI whom have a documented bias toward IC? What about the Multi Vendor legislative action that is now before the Education Committee? This committee led up by Senator Luther Olson, who favors the single vendor option and has stated that the conversion costs suggested by the districts are grossly exaggerated- let’s take a look whom he is married to- Joan Wade the Agency Administrator for CESA 6. Why does this matter? If you look at how this contract will be carried out, CESA will be providing support to school districts. This support which is billable to the individual districts will increase CESA revenues, I find this to be a conflict of interest and Senator Olson in all the remarks I have heard has yet to disclose any of this, disclose how it will be personable be favorable to his own pocket book.
With the appeal, Skyward has great merit to have this overturned, but unfortunately the way this whole thing has played out has me believe this crooked deal will never get straightened out. I came to work for Skyward in early 2011 after many years in the not for profit world. I recognized that it was time for me to explore my options, in doing so I had criteria- good pay and benefits, growth opportunities and most important good values with the product they represent, their customers, their employees, and the community. I am proud to work at Skyward.
As this storm settles, I ask you to kick up the dust again and contact those in Madison, especially your own representatives, Governor Walker, DPI and DOA administrators, and the Education Committee members. If you can contact others- contact those who are not on IC (there are only 400+ school districts- 90%) and ask them to also outreach once again. This is not only an issue for the 50% of the districts in the state who use Skyward but also the other 40% non Skyward, non Infinite Campus users.
In contrast listening to the mining legislation, in a floor speech I recall comment that it would be nice if there were a Wisconsin mining company that they could work with on this. In all the comments I have heard regarding Skyward, this would violate state procurement laws. Wisconsin is Open for Business, we are the customers and we deserve to be heard- “the customer is always right”.
Scott Winn,
Portage County Board County Board Supervisor
715-572-0480