Dear NELSD Families,
Thank you to each of you for a bright start to the 2022-23 school year!
We are so incredibly happy to have our hallways, classrooms and chairs filled once again. It has been a joy seeing our students smiling faces as they return to school and hearing stories about their summer break adventures.
We know there have been a few hiccups to start things off, but we greatly appreciate your patience and want to reassure you that our team has been working tirelessly and quickly to ensure we can clear up any beginning-of-year confusion for our NELSD families. To help, we wanted to address some of the questions we have heard from families in today’s communication.
Transportation
Our transportation department is in overdrive returning phone calls and providing families with their bus route information. If you have called and have not been able to speak with someone, please be patient, they are likely on the other line helping another family. Busing is complex and requires alterations to routes every time a new transportation request is received. Families can help by making sure they have completed the transportation form in FinalForms. Stay tuned for more information about an app coming soon for transportation!
FinalForms
FinalForms, our new forms management system, provides the District with critical information that is needed for the school year. Families can update their contact information, Emergency Medical Authorization (EMA) forms, complete athletic forms, find their child(ren)’s student ID, and more using the FinalForms online student registration system.
- Parents and guardians must complete the FinalForms student registration every school year.
- If you have not already created a parent account, please click here to create your parent account.
- You can also access FinalForms at any point in the school year to update your information in the system if you have a change of address, change your phone number, update transportation information, etc.
PaySchools Central, School Fees, & Free and Reduced Meals
As I mentioned in my letter to families last week, the District has switched from EZpay to PaySchools Central for school fees, managing lunch money, and free and reduced meal applications. While this transition has had some bumps along the way, we are working hastily with PaySchools to smooth those bumps out. Some notes for our families about PaySchools Central:
- NELSD covers the internet convenience fee (ICF) payments made in August and September 2022.
- PaySchools Central will be refunding the internet convenience fees to families who were charged that in August or on September 1, 2022.
- PaySchools Central is mobile-friendly and allows you to manage everything, including completing free and reduced meal applications.
- To access PaySchools Central from your smartphone, you must download the app from the Apple Store or Google Play. The PaySchools Central online system will not work on your phone if you are using a web browser.
- If you need to reset your password, you must do this from a desktop computer or by calling PaySchools Central at (877) 393-6628 or emailing [email protected].
- You must have your child(ren)’s student ID for PaySchools Central. Parents and guardians can find this information in FinalForms or by calling the building secretary.
- The PaySchools Central system has been running slow this week due to the influx of users across the country accessing the system now that students have returned to school.
Unfortunately, the permissions from the United States Department of Agriculture that allowed us to provide free lunch to our school-age students (K-12) during COVID-19, have expired. The Northeastern Local School District (NELSD) and the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) cannot extend the permissions for no-cost meals for all students.
- School meals will still be available to all students; however, they will not be free to all students.
- As was done before the pandemic, households may apply for free or reduced-price meal benefits. Free/Reduced Meal Applications can be submitted via the online system PaySchools Central.
- Families can access PaySchools Central on our Back-to-School Hub by clicking here and scrolling down or via our Food Services page under the Departments header menu on our website.
Thank you for the opportunity to educate your children and for your continued support of our teachers and staff. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me by email at
[email protected] or by phone at (937) 325-7615.
Respectfully,
John Kronour, Ph.D.
Superintendent
Northeastern Local School District