D.171's electronic payment system in place

LANSING | Sunnybrook Elementary District 171 parents can now make payments toward their child’s fees electronically.

The district’s new E-Pay system is in place, giving parents the option of paying fees online with a credit or debit card. Personal checks are no longer accepted.

Interim Superintendent Barbara West updated parents and the School Board earlier this month on the status of the E-Pay system, which is now available to all district parents and guardians.

A letter to them went out in a bulk mailing along with user identification and password information, which will enable parents and guardians to go to the Parent Connect tab on the district’s website and make electronic payments.

Heritage Middle School parents/guardians also can see their child’s grades, daily attendance and discipline through Parent Connect. Three fourth-grade classrooms at the district’s Nathan Hale Elementary School are piloting the system, and parents of those children can see their grades online.

Next year, all students’ grades, including those of all Nathan Hale students, will be accessible through Parent Connect, West said.

Eventually, all District 171 parents also will be able to add funds to their child’s lunch card and pay any library fines through the E-Pay system, according to West. Parents will be notified through a district phone message when those additional capabilities are ready.

In other matters, the board approved the Start to Accept Responsibility  program proposal for Heritage eighth-graders.

The STAR program began last week and is being run by Lansing police Detective Wilson Pierce. Pierce also is proposing to work with Lansing Elementary District 158’s Memorial Junior High School eighth-graders at Memorial, according to Heritage Middle School Principal Michael Keelan.

The program is intended to help transition eighth-graders into high school and beyond and will focus on the value of education, respect, responsibility, accountability, perseverance, mentoring and community service.

Pierce is scheduled to meet for about 30 minutes during the regular school day with Heritage eighth-graders, about once every three weeks. There is no cost to the district for the program.

Attempts to reach Pierce last week were unsuccessful.