Summer camp questions, there is chaos in Bologna: the mystery of the ‘drafts’

In Bologna there is controversy over the ‘click day’ for registering for summer camps, which this year too took place amidst poor service and endless queues. And the receipts for the applications submitted have not arrived

by Marcella Piretti and Vania Vorcelli

BOLOGNA – The application submission system is changing, the inconveniences remain for families in Bologna who have decided to enroll their children in summer camps. This year the system had been renewed, studied better, with the aim of avoid things and system blackouts which in the last two years had made click day a nightmare. This time the Municipality had also provided for the possibility of pre-compiling the application, in the weeks preceding yesterday’s ‘click day’, precisely to speed up operations and prevent blockages. It worked? But not at all. The inconveniences, apart from the first 10 minutes where sending was easy, continued throughout the day, with very long queuessystem that stopped just when it was time to send e other inefficiencies. And it’s not over: because at a certain point in the afternoon a fair amount of concern began to spread about the failure to receive receipts questions to the reference email. Once the application was submitted, the system promised a speedy delivery of the receipt. But of these, hour after hour, not even a shadow. And those who decided to return to their Municipality account found themselves the question still “in draft”. Panic. Many then reopened it (with new eternal queues), recompiled it and then sent it again, but then encountered threatening writings about the fact that the applications could not be sent. Maybe because it was the second shipment? I don’t know. In fact the message was: “The form has been suspended and cannot be reloaded“.

The Bolognese Facebook groups dedicated to school issues are overflowing with criticism of the system and invectives against the Municipality: people remained in queues for hours (among other things “during working hours”), the system that collapses and gives the famous ‘server error’. And then, precisely, the ‘mystery’ of the questions actually sent or not. Anyone who tried to ask the Municipality’s Summer Office, on the phone or by email, why the receipts had not arrived, was told that there had been “Technical Problems“, but that they would soon be resolved and the receipts would arrive. And the drafts? In the ‘Schools of Bologna and province’ group, someone swears that at the bottom of the application form, in small print, it was written that the application, until accepted, would still appear in the system as ‘in draft’. Maybe.

Yesterday, meanwhile, the only moment in which the Bologna Municipality’s platform worked quickly were precisely the first 10-15 minutes. Those who queued starting from 1.30pm, i.e. the time from which the system allowed access. It’s a shame that nowhere in the explanations of the procedure did it say that access at 1.30pm would have already put people in the queue. It only said that you could enter from that time but that everything would still start at 2pm, with queues and questions to be filled in a “random” way (sic!). Obviously the lack of information on the possibility of queuing from 1.30pm was also a further cause of controversy. In short, apart from the lucky few who were already at the PC at 1.30pm, those who ‘entered’ a few minutes after 2pm ended up in an endless queue, with thousands of people waiting. Technical problems also make registration an obstacle course, with the system goes haywire almost immediately: around 2.30pm the first stop, which lasted about an hour. Then a second shorter break, around 4.30pm. The fact is that many took at least four hours to enter and send the applicationeven for those who had filled it out in the previous weeks.

“Unfortunately, there are still problems regarding the click day of the summer camps. Once again the system is in haywire and the families’ patience is once again put to the test”, the group leader of Forza Italia in the Municipality, Nicola Stanzani, puts his finger on the wound. “It is certainly a sign of appreciation for an integrated system that as Forza Italia we have always supported, but we must reiterate that certain innovations should be better communicated and managed, in order to limit these and other inconveniences that we are experiencing at the moment. We are now confident in a rapid and effective resolution of the current inefficiencies by the administration”, says Stanzani. The families’ exasperation also spreads on social media, where many denounce the exhausting procedure.

“They would have made even Ghandi swear“, complains Marco, who after an hour still has 2,640 people in front of him, showing a photo of the computer screen. “I spend the afternoon glued to the PC”, he resigns himself. New procedures, same problems. Incompetent”, says Gennaro. “I had done everything, pre-compilation, attempt to access the priority queue. Nothing worse than last year”, Laura shakes her head. In the morning the Municipality had reminded that the race for the place would start from 2pm with registration open “until 12pm on 6 May” for the age group and those who attend primary school as early adopters). “So no click day but the start of registrations which will remain open for a week”.

Last year “85% of boys and girls managed to enroll in the summer center chosen as their first preference and the remaining 15% in the summer center chosen as their second preference. And that even after the first two weeks of registration, places were still available in almost all the summer centers and for almost all the weeks”, recalled the Municipality. The second phase of registrations, for the 3-6 year age group, will start from 2pm on May 6th to end at 12pm on May 13th. It will be the second click day, and hopefully it works better than yesterday’s.