Independent School Educators' List (ISED-L): Re: SIS Names configuration help

I have discussed the using a "legal full name" field versus a
"Preferred name" field with VC and that's complex as well. Typically
travel documents, and airline tickets when flying on trips, must have
the first word of the first name at the first of the ticket and the
last word of the last name at the last of the ticket, so in the
example below with Isabela, the ticket would frequently read "Beatriz
Cardoso" to match her national ID card, but she stil thinks of herself
as Isabela Seixas. On report cards, we would need a more complete form
of the last name. It gets complicated in a hurry.

One of my epiphanies during our transition from SASI to Veracross was
that old systems used names for indexing as they were not that far
removed from a file cabinet. New systems do not have that bias so
names can now be about the person's identity rather than about making
information easy to find. We moved from identity imposed by
information retrieval needs to identity as defined by self.
--=20
Derrel Fincher
Director of Information and Communication Technology
Graded - The American School of S=E3o Paulo
http://www.graded.br | (55 11) 3747-4800 x160

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 11:31 PM, Bill Fitzgerald
<dwfitzgerald@yahoo.com> wrote:
> RE: "Here in the United States, people who divorce/remarry
> Hello, all,
>
> RE: "Here in the United States, people who divorce/remarry legally take o=
n
> that new last name (and really don't want anything to do with their old
> name - at least in my experience with families)"
>
> In the case of the parents, yes, but in the case of the students, it is o=
ften not that black and white. In many cases, a child in a family where one=
parent has remarried will have a hyphenated last name, or will have one le=
gal name and another preferred name. I have seen this more frequently when =
the child is middle school or high school age (as opposed to elementary), a=
nd the question of name/parental connection is ultimately tied to identity.=
What we need for record keeping doesn't always correspond to what the pers=
on feels/thinks/needs.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bill
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Jason Ramsden <jramsden@ravenscroft.org>
> To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Sent: Fri, February 12, 2010 10:05:52 AM
> Subject: Re: SIS Names configuration help
>
> Gentleman,
>
> I definitely see your point re: data structure as it is easy to add that =
field. However, when you note divorce/remarry as an equivalent to what Derr=
el has asked regarding "Beatriz Isabela Seixas dos Santos Cardoso" and her =
last name it is not the same. In her case the preferred last name most like=
ly is based on culture, no? (correct me if I am wrong there Derrel as the b=
elow would then not apply).
>
> Here in the United States, people who divorce/remarry legally take on tha=
t new last name (and really don't want anything to do with their old name -=
at least in my experience with families). In the case of "Beatriz Isabela =
Seixas dos Santos Cardoso" it appears to be a matter of "official" or "lega=
l" last name of record for government purposes in that country noting that =
her official name is her given name and from where she hails which is the n=
eed for the preferred last name.
>
> Perhaps the conversation should not be centered around preferred last nam=
e field as much as it should be structured around designing the system to h=
ave a report for travel document and/or government reporting purposes that =
may pull from a secondary last name field?
>
> Just my two cents...
>
> Disclaimer: Ravenscroft School is also a Veracross client.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
------
> Jason T. Ramsden; CTO @ Ravenscroft School (Raleigh, NC - USA)
> Mobile: 919.337.2244
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: A forum for independent school educators [mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SY=
R.EDU] On Behalf Of Derrel Fincher
> Sent: Friday, February 12, 2010 12:13 PM
> To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Re: SIS Names configuration help
>
> They are willing to make the change for our school, but due to the
> structure of their data, it would not carry over to all of the forms,
> so I want to convince them that this is good for everybody. I had not
> thought of the divorce/remarry issue, but that also happens here
> frequently.
> Thanks,
> Derrel
> --
> Derrel Fincher
> Director of Information and Communication Technology
> Graded - The American School of S=E3o Paulo
> http://www.graded.br | (55 11) 3747-4800 x160
>
> On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 9:48 PM, Bill Fitzgerald <dwfitzgerald@yahoo.com>=
wrote:
>> From a technical place, this is a very reasonable request. It could also=
be a useful feature in the case of families in the middle of divorce, or w=
hen a parent/guardian remarries.
>>
>> I would also use this as a way to assess the vendor -- if they are not a=
ble to adequately address this need, or explain why they won't/can't addres=
s this need, it could foreshadow other things to come as the relationship d=
evelops.
>>
>> Good luck with this --
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Bill
>>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: Derrel Fincher <derrel.fincher@graded.br>
>> To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>> Sent: Thu, February 11, 2010 3:30:49 AM
>> Subject: SIS Names configuration help
>>
>> Most SIS systems have a preferred (or nick) name field for replacing fir=
st
>> names in the system with a preferred name. However, what are your though=
ts
>> on asking SIS vendors to have a preferred last name field as well? I am
>> trying to make a case to our SIS vendor (Veracross), that this is a
>> necessary feature.
>>
>> As an example, John Robert Smith might have Bob in the preferred name fi=
eld
>> so that teachers can call him Bob, while John Smith is printed on the re=
port
>> card and transcript. There, we only need the preferred first name. Howev=
er,
>> we might have Beatriz Isabela Seixas dos Santos Cardoso, who is commonly
>> knows as Isabela Seixas. In this case, I can put Isabela in the preferre=
d
>> name field, but I have no way to indicate that her preferred last name i=
s
>> Seixas. For legal reasons, we must have the full name in the system beca=
use
>> they are used with travel documents for school trips.
>>
>> How many of you would find a preferred last name field useful, or do you
>> have other suggestions?
>> --
>> Derrel Fincher
>> Director of Information and Communication Technology
>> Graded - The American School of S=E3o Paulo
>> http://www.graded.br | (55 11) 3747-4800 x160
>>