Customer Spotlight

Welcome to the Customer Spotlight!

This customer spotlight features the Southern 6 Region, comprised of 6 counties and 16 districts, along the Mississippi Gulf Coast .

As everyone is aware, Hurricane Katrina was one of the nation's worst natural disasters. Katrina not only wiped out homes and businesses but a great portion of the Gulf Coast 's schools as well.

94% of the Gulf Coast 's districts use the SEAS™ program. Because CAS hosts the data, districts across the coast were able to access their SPED students' IEPs. “The SEAS™ program saved our district since we were able to pull up IEPs (both current and archived) and other forms from the server. Also, when other districts called us for specific education records of our displaced students (prior to us starting back and us being temporarily housed somewhere else), we were able to print out and fax documents immediately” says Polly Sumrow, SPED Director, Pascagoula School District , Mississippi .

Most businesses have disaster relief plans and insurances to accommodate fire and theft, but most businesses do not have flood insurance. This has led the Biloxi school district to look at an archiving system across the district, not just Special Education. Debra Bowers, Special Education Director, Biloxi Schools, says, “Our district (starting with SPED) is looking at an archiving system to use to save all of our district data (business, food service, sped, cumulative records, etc.).This is important because we are getting away from keeping any paper documents….”

Dr. Rusty Dempsey, Special Education Director at Bay-Waveland School District , says: “We felt a sense of devastation when we found our offices submerged in over five feet of gulf water and all of our documents were destroyed. However, I knew that our IEPs were safely tucked away in Mountain Home , AR. ”

For our customers in the South, weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes are risks. But disaster recovery is not limited to the south; therefore, disaster recovery is of the utmost importance to Computer Automation Systems. The type of records required of special needs children are hard to replace. Each state has its own requirements and formats, and each student's plan is compiled by a unique, specific team at each district.

Teachers returned to school in Pascagoula on October 3, 2005 with students returning on October 6, 2005.

Teachers and students returned to school in Biloxi on September 26, 2005. They were able to use all of their facilities except two (2). Two (2) of their elementary schools suffered 8 feet of water and mud. They are being gutted and rebuilt. The district still has 1905 students who have not returned.

Teachers returned to school in Bay Waveland on November 1, 2005 with students returning on November 7, 2005. With the exception of one (1) middle school, all schools have been converted to portable classrooms.

We want our customers along the Gulf Coast to know that not a day goes by without our thoughts being with them.

If anyone wishes to help any of the districts along the Gulf Coast , you can go to their local school websites.