It is official; Benet Academy is not renewing Rediker Software’s contract for the 2024-2025 school year– a major change five years in the making that Mr. Christopher Perez, Assistant Principal of Student Affairs at Benet Academy, called “like losing an old friend.” Mr. Perez first joined Benet Academy in 2022, but used Rediker software for many years at his former school, St. Patrick High School in Chicago. However, Mr. Perez repeatedly described Rediker’s interfaces as “clunky” and is excited about working with Blackbaud, the new software provider. Many other local Catholic high schools have switched from Rediker to Blackbaud, including St. Ignatius College Prep, Fenwick High School, and St. Francis High School. Surprisingly, there are only three main software solutions in the K-12 market that handle the needs of students, teachers, and parents; these platforms are Rediker, Blackbaud, and Infinite Campus.
The main factors that influenced the decision to switch were a failure by Rediker to modernize and roll out new improvements in a timely manner. In addition, Rediker’s software has failed to bridge the gap between different departments of the school. Blackbaud’s software integrates all data into one system, making things easier for all departments. Integrating the finance department will allow for parents to pay tuition online through Blackbaud. One of the most significant changes that will come with the software change will be integration with the development department, which previously had its own separate system.
The Rediker student interface, PlusPortals, will be replaced with Blackbaud’s My School Interface, customized to “MyBenet.” MyBenet boasts a more user-friendly assignment turn in feature, similar to Google Classroom. Blackbaud’s software is also integrated more seamlessly with third-party service providers like EdTech, Benet’s digital textbook provider. Three week progress reports and report cards will come from Blackbaud and will no longer appear “like they were spit out by an old dot matrix printer,” according to Mr. Perez. Anyone who has received these emails can agree that modernization is necessary.
The school website is also now powered by Blackbaud, offering an update to a website that previously had numerous sections filled with photos and information that was several years out of date. In spite of the fact that almost every link from the Benet Academy website of yore is now of date, Mr. Perez has been able to ensure that “everything is in the same place to avoid confusing people”.
The administration created a training process with Blackbaud and students got their first taste of the system when they used Blackbaud as early as February of 2024 for 2024-2025 course selections. PlusPortals remained in use until the end of the 2023-24 school year and MyBenet was fully implemented over the summer.
