At the beginning of the school year, the School District of Palm Beach County introduced a new mandatory online student-athlete registration system, Aktivate. The new system was put in place to reduce paper use and make transfers easier.

“I like the accountability for athletes and coaches,” Kelli Erianne, Athletic Director said. “Communication is very simple between us, parents, and athletes if there is a problem with the forms or to remind them to complete their registration.”

Despite the roll-out, a board meeting in August 17 reconsidered the decision to make the online process mandatory. This decision followed the criticism of parents, students, and coaches regarding confusion and inconvenience of the new system. Football player Cameron Jones agreed with these grievances, recalling that instructions are “unclear” which makes the whole process “confusing” and time-consuming.

“I feel like the paper process was much smoother because it was simple, straight to the point, and easy to do,” Jones said.

On the other hand, the support for the online process comes from the accessibility of information. With an online system, there is no risk of losing papers or having to tediously sort through files to find the information you need. For some, although the process took longer it was worth it for the convenience of being organized.

“The paper version felt more hectic compared to the online version because there was no checklist of what we had to do,” senior volleyball player Bella Fusco said. “Everything was unorganized, but on the online version it was consolidated in one place.”

Due to the controversy, student-athletes are able to continue registering through pen-and-paper. The online application remains an option. If there are any issues students are able to reach out for assistance.

“If students might be having trouble navigating the system they can email me and I have a little sheet with hints and FAQs,” Erianne said.