For the second time in less than six months, the guidance and technology departments are working together to bounce back from yet another technical glitch with the Chancery Student Management Software. Callahan explained that a rollover is when students' information from the previous academic year is moved into the next year. Callahan said EduTEAM, the company that provides technical support for Chancery's software, had followed Chancery's instructions for the rollover. Chancery did not return calls for comment by press time. Callahan blamed the instructions for the glitch that caused the GPAs to be erased, but assured the School Committee that the problem was being rectified.

"Rest assured transcripts with a GPA will be available for seniors and for juniors on an as needed basis. No one in the community has to worry about that," Callahan said.

As it did when the Chancery system prevented transcripts from being printed, the guidance department is bearing the brunt of the backlash. On Thursday, Guidance Administrator Diane Dunlap said her staff was manually calculating the GPAs, starting first with the senior class.

"It's a very lengthy process," Dunlap said. Dunlap submitted her letter of resignation on Oct. 5 after 22 years in the district. She said Thursday that the continued issues with Chancery software and its impact on the guidance department had "significant bearing on the decision."

Since the problem was detected at the beginning of the school year, Dunlap's office has been comparing three sets of data containing the senior class' grades including transcripts reflecting grades earned in ninth, tenth and eleventh grade; a printout from the old software system, Mac School, showing marks earned in ninth and tenth grade; and last year's report cards reflecting grades earned junior year. By looking at all of these documents, Dunlap said her staff can verify the number of credits a student earned, their attendance record, the course work they completed and their grades.

Her staff then compares the grades earned in each class over the past three years and matches the letter grade to its assigned point value. The average of this number equals the student's GPA. The GPA for each year and a cumulative GPA are being calculated manually by the guidance department and then sent over to the technology department to be input into Chancery SMS.

Dunlap said about 85 percent of the seniors' GPAs had been calculated and sent to the guidance department. Once this class is complete, the junior and the sophomore classes' GPAs will need to be calculated. Dunlap said her staff has worked "into the wee hours of the morning" to fix the problem. However, this comes at a time of year when her administrative staff is usually preparing transcript packets for seniors and her counselors are busy writing recommendations for the class.

Dunlap said she has 20 recommendations to write while one of her counselors has 45 letters to craft before mid-November. As of Oct. 12, Dunlap said her department had received 566 requests for transcript packets, which contain a copy of a student's transcript with GPA, the school's profile, the counselor's school report form, a letter of recommendation, the student's activity record and scores from the College Board.

"It's all about the students and providing them with the information they are entitled to have," Dunlap said. "We haven't even begun looking at the juniors yet. Juniors want their GPAs for college athletic recruiters. It's a stressful time. But I am very fortunate to have the staff that I have. I am so proud of my colleagues. They are remarkable."

Although Dunlap did not attend the School Committee meeting last Wednesday night, many parents concerned about how the delay in generating GPAs would impact students, did come to the meeting, but they were not able to speak. After Callahan made her presentation, School Committee Chairman George Cipolletti said he felt the issue had been sufficiently addressed and that no further comment on the subject was needed. The entire public comment section of the meeting was cut. Maureen Connolly of Bowsprit Lane said this was the first time in the six years she's been attending School Committee meetings that she remembers the public comment section being eliminated.

"I did not get the impression [from the meeting] that the technology issue was solved," Connolly said on Thursday.

BeBe Watson of Bow Street was one of the parents who attended the meeting and had planned on speaking about the GPA delay. Watson's son is a senior at DHS. She also served on the communication committee, a group that was charged with improving two-way communication between the school and parents.

"As a parent of a senior, we have so much invested in the school system. I have grave concerns about what's going on at the high school. It's not just software; we need IT specialists. The technology department is grossly understaffed. It's management by crisis," Watson said on Thursday. "It's now a matter of trust. I don't feel I can trust their records. The guidance department is a group of dedicated souls. But it's a waste of their time, energy and money to manually calculate the GPAs. This is hurting our children and our families."

Callahan said at the meeting that she has been in constant communication with EduTEAM and Chancery about implementing a permanent fix to prevent this data loss during the next rollover. She added that her department was on schedule with the timeline it had instituted for exploring a new student management system if the school decides to abandon Chancery. She said the newly formed community task force, with members Bob George, Malcolm Stone and School Committee Vice Chairwoman Karen Wong's husband Ling Wong, would be meeting with the student management review team, which draws members from the school district's staff, teachers and administrators, on Nov. 7.

"I hope Chancery does the things it said it would, but I'm looking into other software," Callahan said. "We are trying to be as proactive as possible."

School Committee member John Heinstadt pressed Callahan for a reason why the GPA erasure occurred and why Chancery caused a one-month delay in the printing of transcripts over the summer. Callahan blamed human error for the glitches in the software. She said the GPA delay occurred due to the human error of the person who wrote the instructions for the rollover.

However, Terry Reiber of Tremont Street said Callahan should have tested the system before implementing the rollover. Reiber was a member of the disbanded technology steering committee.

"You need to test the system and try the changes before you input them into the new system. You can't blame the vendor when the administration is not verifying the software," Reiber said.