School committee approves Aspen registration module amid questions about translation and data access

The North Kingstown School Committee voted May 5 to approve adding the Aspen online registration module and to renew associated services after extended technical and budget questions.

Chaz Visanko, the district's IT supervisor, described the current process: families used a Google form and staff manually uploaded PDFs and documents into Aspen, producing opportunities for data errors. "We won't be using a Google form. We will be changing the way the entire process ... this will be dramatically easier for both the family and the district," Visanko said, explaining the registration module will automate uploads to Aspen and reduce manual back-and-forth.

Committee members asked several operational and cost questions. The package presented shows a recurring annual cost of about $14,000 and a one-time fee of roughly $11,000; administration said those amounts were included in the budget request. Members also pressed for clarity on language access: Visanko said browser-based translation often helps and he would confirm Aspen's native translation capabilities and report back.

On data security, the IT supervisor and administration said uploaded documents (birth certificates, passports) are restricted to staff with administrative or data-manager access and are not broadly visible. Visanko agreed to follow up with a written confirmation about access controls and how translation will be handled for family-facing pages.

The committee approved the registration module and renewal items together. Members asked for subsequent written confirmation (from IT or finance) on exact fees, on how translation will appear for non-English households, and on the specific personnel roles who will retain access to sensitive documents.