Prince William County Schools is investigating alternatives to SchoolFusion, the current system that powers the School Division's websites.
SchoolFusion is the website support system that is used by administrators and teachers to communicate to parents and students at all county schools.
School officials are looking at their options when the their contract with the platform's publisher, Blackboard Engage, ends later this year.
"Our current Fusion contract runs out in June, unless it is extended," said PWCS Communications Director Phil Kavits. "However, moving to a new platform will require significant time and necessitate that we maintain the Fusion system (at significant additional cost) during evaluation of and subsequent transition to any alternate product."
Kavits confirmed that the county is considering to transition to another platform, but has to weigh its options. Staying with Fusion is also an option.
"At present, we have an internal working group researching and discussing what might be done to maintain and even upgrade the web user experience in the short and medium-term, while ensuring that we have the time, the information, and the funding needed to make a major step forward for the long-term," he said.
While no definitive plans have been made regarding a switch in providers; school-level Instructional Resource Technology Teachers have already received passwords to enable them to explore other online content management systems from Blackboard Engage.
The county said it will communicate its plans well in advance of any actual switch.
"Our goal regarding the long-term plan would be to get the kind of extensive community input we received prior to the initial adoption of Fusion," he said.
School administrators encourage teachers to keep their SchoolFusion pages updated regularly to provide meaningful support for classroom instruction and as a resource in case of in climate weather.
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