DeKalb school district’s newly redesigned Web site now offers an online payment for food services, while further enhancements are in the works.

The Web site was launched in August, just before school registration, and aims to streamline the payment processes.

Parents and students, as well as faculty and staff, can go online and buy food services to be used later at the cafeterias through personal identification numbers, technology facilitator Brian Tobin said.

The service is a reaction to past proposals that called for some degree of online payment.

Parents, in particular, were most interested in starting up the service, said web editor Debbie Prellwitz. It is definitely a good idea, she said.

For parents who often deal with sports practices and other activities, the new Web site is a boon.

They no longer have to go down to the Fourth Street Education Center or make a call – for some people, electronic is just the most convenient way.

Although the service will help all, Assistant Superintendent MeriAnn Besonen agreed it was mostly for the parents.

As well, because it is just a Web site, there isn’t a large financial overhead to cover.

The district uses Revtrack to manage the new webstore because they proposed the lowest up-front costs, Tobin said.

Likewise, there are no hidden fees for choosing to pay online as opposed to in person.

Further expansion of the webstore is possible.

“We want to keep it small while we’re getting it up and running,” Besonen said.

In the future there might be an option to make registration payments online, as well as to buy merchandise other than food services.

Until then, they are will be fine-tuning the new service.

The student database has to match the one used in the webstore in order to decrease the chances of having missing information or other potential problems associated with this kind of service, Tobin said.

Important but manageable issues such as these will be ironed out before any expansion occurs.

The webstore can be accessed through the school district Web site, www.dist428.org, and food service buyers can use Visa or Master Card.