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McFarland Unified School District
David Lopez
Director of Technology
McFarland, California
3,000 Students

McFarland Brings Infinite Campus to California
McFarland Unified School District has 3,000 students and is located near Bakersfield. When it came time to update their information management system, they required an effective, web-based communication between the school and community, a highly functional product that was easy to use and a vendor that could support the many challenges of California state reporting. McFarland Unified selected Infinite Campus.

Updating the District
David Lopez, director of technology for McFarland Unified, was hired in 2005 to create and develop a technology department for the district. Lopez needed to update the 5-year-old computers and refresh the software so that it could accommodate the data management and state reporting requirements of the district.Several well-known system vendors were reviewed and Infinite Campus rose to the top of the list.

McFarland had used Quintessential School Systems (QSS) student information system hosted on a mainframe computer located at the county office of education. After a thorough evaluation of the goals and expectations for the district, it was clear a new system was necessary for the district to more effectively manage their student data and accurately adhere to state reporting requests. 

Because of the outdated equipment within the district, staff rarely used the older software system. It was good timing to introduce Infinite Campus and conduct technology training that would help staff understand a new way of student tracking and learn the mandated accountability programs for state reporting.

Choosing a New System
“As McFarland engaged in long-term strategic planning, it was determined they didn’t want to go with a system just because everyone else had it. The district was looking to the future and wanted something they could claim as their own,” said Lopez.

“After careful consideration, we saw a lot of products that were functional, but not exceptional. They would do pretty much what we wanted, but they weren’t forward thinking,” said Lopez. “While many vendors claimed to have a web-based product, basically it looked like their application had just been put onto the Web page as an after-thought. It was as though they were taking a backwards approach. Infinite Campus was selected because they were truly web-based, forward thinking and responsive.”

Unique Challenges for California
“California has a very extensive state reporting structure compared to most states,” said Lopez. “The state tracks a lot more information.”

For example, McFarland has more than 20 ethnic categories, where districts in other states may have seven or less. In addition, many states have five or six languages for state reporting, but California has close to 30. Also, the requirements keep changing as the state continues to request more data from the district.

“Infinite Campus is doing a very good job responding to the additional challenges of CSIS (California School Information Services) reporting,” said Lopez. “Because many districts were having difficulty with their data and reporting structures, the state gave an extension for sending in the data. Still, many districts did not meet the new deadline. McFarland was one of the few districts who submitted their data to the state within the required timeline.”

Campus Portal Improves Attendance
When the decision to change systems was made, the number one priority for McFarland was to improve communications between the district and the broader community.

Accomodating Diversity
McFarland’s population is ethnically and economically diverse. There were instances where parents were unfamiliar with computers and the Internet, but still wanted access to their student’s information. McFarland responded to the parent’s request by allowing them to come to the school in person and set up an Internet access account.

The Campus Portal for Parents was an important feature of Infinite Campus to McFarland. It gave parents access to student information in real time, as it was entered by teachers, counselors and staff. The Campus Portal encouraged parent participation in their student’s educational activities, and that made a big difference for McFarland.

Once the Campus Portal was launched, McFarland began receiving positive feedback. The district had faced a history of poor attendance at the middle and high schools. Parents would drive their student to the building, and find out weeks later that their student had been marked absent for the first class or even for the entire day. Parents were frustrated that it took the school so long to notify them of these absences.

McFarland was determined to find a better way to inform parents and hold the students accountable with the Campus Portal for Parents.

“The middle school principal noticed a significant improvement in attendance shortly after the Campus Portal went live,” said Lopez. “Parents became actively involved with the district to help alleviate the attendance problems.”

Parents could then designate access to an older child who may be away at college or living in another town who would convey the information back to the parents. This kind of flexibility to accommodate parents met with tremendous success.

“Infinite Campus was adaptable to our needs,” said Lopez. “It had the required bilingual capabilities and was easy for staff to use.”

The Right Choice for McFarland
The selection of Infinite Campus for McFarland has proven to be both cost effective and responsive to the changes and challenges of California state reporting. The implementation and training went smoothly and the service and support have been very good.

“The biggest selling point for McFarland was the ease of use and the functionality of Infinite Campus,” continued Lopez. “It contains a lot of information that helps our district in multiple ways with attendance, discipline, reporting, etc. It just makes life a lot easier.”