The FastDirect
Story
| FastDirect Communications was
born out of a desire to help parochial schools. It's founder, Randy
Hilleren, whose daughters attended St. Peter Elementary School, saw a need
and volunteered to satisfy that need. Schools are rich in information
and have a need for effective communication and collaboration. However,
schools seldom have the professional Information Technology staff and resources.
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The FastDirect vision
that started with Randy and then Ed was caught by Hank Raedeke a 35-year
veteran of Lutheran schools. He saw the FastDirect Communications School
Information Service as a way to help Lutheran schools perform competently
and efficiently, and most importantly, he saw a way to help each Lutheran school
use technology to provide excellence in Christian education. After struggling
for years and spending thousands of dollars on school management software
and file server upgrades as well as the valuable time of school technology
staff, he still did not have a well-functioning School Information System.
His frustration was ended when he was introduced to the web-based FastDirect
Communications School Information System. He decided to join the company
to bring this service to Lutheran schools across the country.
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| Randy was
familiar with web-based business applications used in many industries especially
in health services. He realized the same systems could be used to help
his school. He began helping the school develop a web-based family and
student directory. Success led him to expand the system to provide
communication among classrooms, office, and parents. |
“Schools must
keep pace with best practices including the use of technology so that their
mission of nurturing disciples of Christ is not hampered but is tremendously
enhanced. An effective web-based School Information System can serve
to strengthen the collaboration between school, home, and church in a new
and dynamic way.” (Hank Raedeke) |
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| Soon
he realized that a web-based data and communications system was an almost
universal need for schools. He asked Ed Pucel, a retired Army Corps
of Engineers programmer, to join him to develop secure database applications
specifically for k-8 parochial schools. |
“FastDirect
Communications creates a safe and affordable IT infrastructure for all of
its stakeholders. We leverage common Information Technology services
for the benefit of all parochial elementary schools. As IT partners,
we are working on a daily basis with our schools to identify the evolving
opportunities for Web-based services in our school communities. Our
current emphasis is teacher and staff centric with a systemic approach to
meet the communication needs of students and their supportive parents.”
(Randy Hilleren) |
|
| In the year
2000, he invited 6 parochial schools in the St. Louis metro area to use the
service free of charge so that real users would contribute ideas to the design.
FastDirect Communications was supported by revenue from Technology Sponsors
that FastDirect recruited as advertisers for each school. This advertising
based revenue model ended in the summer of 2003, all new schools pay an annual
subscription for FastDirect services. The Technology Sponsors program
and tools are now an available resource for school fundraising. |
The FastDirect
Communications School Information System changes daily as users at our schools
provide feedback. The 2012/13 school year will include many new services
in our growing library of school applications based on school community feedback.
Planned enhancements and new services will be in the following areas. |
|
| Over the past
three years, Randy and Ed expanded the school directory, messaging, attendance
and report cards services to include lunch program management, easy to use
teacher bulletin boards and calendars, report cards, progress reports, financial
module and most importantly a secure way for parents to register and access
school information permission by the local school. Over time, FastDirect
eMessaging (intranet) has proved to be a powerful resource for school staff
and parents. The eMessaging is virus free, integrates with email, is always
school business and can be used for notification services. Plus the school
database can manage constantly changing email addresses. |
1. Financial Services 2. Parent Notifications 3. Lunch Order-Ahead 4. Photo Image of Students 5. Custom Reports 6. School Safety 7. Registration 8. Training Videos 9. GradeBook & ReportCards |
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| The spring and summer of 2003 brought the introduction of the FastDirect grade book services for teacher record keeping, integration with report cards - progress reports, bulletin board, calendar and messaging. Our Gradebook process is the foundation for teacher automation. This is an awesome resource for teachers, parents and students. |
Randy Hilleren 1-314-822-3278"Randy's dedication to Parochial schools makes FastDirect a trusted partner in Education."(Randy Hilleren, FastDirect Communications) |
435 E. Elliott Ave., Kirkwood, MO 63122
314-822-3278 phone
314-677-2118 fax
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