Photo courtesy of Colton McKee

By Scott Roblin

Online Registration

Catholic Board switching to online registration for parents in February

Jan 15, 2020 | 5:06 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Some big changes are coming to the way parents register their kids who attend catholic school in Medicine Hat.

Beginning next month, the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education will be doing away with paper registration documents and switching to online registrations for their students.

Superintendent Dwayne Zarichny said it’s been a move that’s been talked about for a while and just made sense to move towards, especially for students in elementary school.

“The majority of our middle school and high school parents probably already have those accounts created because they’ve been accessing that system,” said Zarichny. “So, the majority of the new accounts will be created at the elementary end.”

WHAT'S ON

Here is what's on this weekend in Medicine Hat and area: Dec. 13-15

9h ago

IN THE COMMUNITY

Medicine Hat's Mustard Seed adding new shelter spaces at Alberta government's request

Dec 12, 2024

HOLIDAYS

Medicine Hat Kiwanis hosting Christmas dinner, applications due Friday

Dec 12, 2024

Parents are expected to see the process streamlined online with most of data remaining on the account year after year, while the move also meets Alberta Education’s requirement for the MHCBE to digitize their records.

Zarichny expects the decision to save parents time not only this winter, but years down the road as well.

“The real time saving comes next year,” said Zarichny. “Essentially next year they’ll have to verify that the demographic data of their children is correct, they click okay, and it’s done. So, it really would be typical of a half an hour or 40 minute process to fill out all these forms, now will be done in just a few minutes.”

An added bonus of the move online will see the MHCBE take a more environmentally friendly stance, as thousands of pieces of paper are mailed to families every registration period.

“In a jurisdiction our size, it really wouldn’t be uncommon to utilize between 20,000 and 30,000 pieces of paper every year during this process,” said Zarichny. “Once this process is complete this year, we should be able to reduce that amount down to about two percent of what we normally use.”

Parents will be receiving their notification packages from the board next week, while the online portal to launch registration will officially open on February 3.

Those with questions are asked to contact the MHCBE at 403-527-2292.