Board approves switch to Focus student information system, targets August 2026 go‑live

The Apple Valley Unified board voted on Nov. 6 to approve procurement of the Focus student information system following a multi‑stakeholder review.

Jason Buchanan, director of IT, said the district opened an RFP after the current SIS vendor (Ares) announced upcoming changes that would increase cost and reduce functionality. Buchanan described a multi‑stage review that included more than 130 staff, 89 focus‑group participants, seven RFP responses and product demonstrations. "We invited Focus and EduPoint software to present," he said, and the review group overwhelmingly recommended Focus.

Andrew Heldreth, a Granite Hills math teacher who participated in evaluations, told trustees that Ares has limited functionality and that Focus consolidates systems teachers currently use across multiple tabs. "Aries has pretty much been a nightmare. With Focus, it's all within that one system... it will make educators' lives much better," Heldreth said.

Staff outlined implementation steps and a proposed timeline: scope and stakeholder identification, training, data migration (staff said they would migrate data back to 2009) and an intended go‑live of Aug. 6, 2026, to meet a vendor deadline and avoid a cost increase from the current vendor. Jason Buchanan said migration costs are included in the implementation budget and that the district will run both technical and teacher training to manage the transition.

Trustees asked technical questions — including whether Focus will integrate historic data and existing discipline/attendance modules — and staff answered that the implementation includes data migration and cleanup. The board approved the item by roll call.