The Epstein School is an independent Jewish day school with 487 students located in Sandy Springs, GA. The school offers programs for children from early childhood through eighth grade. They adopted the Veracross student information system in 2023.  

The Challenge 

After eighteen years with Senior Systems, The Epstein School faced a dilemma: the student information system provider announced they would be sunsetting key parts of the platform. Although this wasn’t the first time they had heard such whispers, The Epstein School decided it was time to find a replacement. “We weren’t getting the services we were used to,” says Aaron Griffin, Director of Strategic Projects. “The writing was on the wall.” 

As conversations about a new SIS began, Griffin realized it was also a prime opportunity to consolidate systems across the entire school. While academics and accounting used Senior Systems, the school also used Ravenna for admission and Raiser’s Edge for development. “We did fairly well with the systems,” says Griffin. “They flowed decently… but anyone who runs multiple systems will have challenges.”  

The combination of discontinued software, disjointed systems, and upcoming software contract renewals motivated The Epstein School to find a new SIS ahead of the 2023-24 school year.   

The Process 

Griffin led the search for a new student information system. He gathered stakeholders from each department to assess their current processes and gaps in the school’s workflows. This was a crucial step as not every department was totally convinced they needed a new system until they saw the full picture.  

By gathering everyone in the same room, Griffin was able to illustrate the flow of data across every system and show stakeholders the inefficiencies of their current technology infrastructure. He demonstrated how a seemingly small change in admissions, for example, would trickle down to affect academics and development. “Giving them that bigger, broader understanding was helpful,” says Griffin. “Getting them to look at it from a whole-school perspective, to see how it all works together.” 

He also asked stakeholders to identify things they were not currently able to do but would like to do in a new system. This helped even those that were content with their current systems to think about the possibilities a new system could provide.  

After identifying their SIS non-negotiables and nice-to-haves, Griffin put out a request for proposal to four vendors including Veracross. Stakeholders met with each vendor, watched product demos, and ultimately unanimously decided to move to Veracross. “The system sold itself,” says Griffin. “It was going to take out some of the processes that were in place with multiple systems and free us from some of the tasks we’d been doing so we can focus on other aspects.” The added benefit of the one-person, one-record database was key as it promised to bring their disjointed departments together for once and for all. 

The Impact 

Today, The Epstein School relies on Veracross for all major departments: Academics, Admission & Enrollment, Accounting, Student Billing, and Development. Moving to Veracross has helped eliminate silos between these departments and unlock new levels of collaboration.  

“For each department, it’s opened up eyes to different processes throughout the school,” says Griffin. School staff are more aware of how their actions affect other departments and how data moves throughout the school. Parents are also enjoying a more streamlined experience now that everything from contracts to grades and student billing are in one easily accessible place.  

Prior to Veracross, it could be challenging to find information across the school’s various databases. School staff didn’t always know who had access to what information and spent valuable time ping-ponging around different systems. Now, everyone has access to the same information and can pull whatever information they need by themselves. It’s added a new level of self-sufficiency that is both empowering and timesaving. “We’re saving a lot of time when it comes to data,” says Griffin.  

With everything in one place, the school is now able to ask bigger questions about their data and do things they weren’t previously able to. “What type of data do we want to collect?,” asks Griffin. “We have a system that can actually do some of these things… so why aren’t we doing it?” 

Advice for Other Schools 

When reflecting on The Epstein School’s software journey, Griffin emphasizes the importance of stakeholder buy-in and communication.  

“The process is just as important as picking the system,” says Griffin. “Helping people understand how it all works together… as much as they might love a system, if they see it can help them and others in the school do their jobs better and be more efficient and have better information to make more informed decisions, it just helps with that conversation.” 

To learn more about how Veracross supports Jewish day schools, watch our on-demand webinar.