Report card season is always a busy time for teachers. But this time was even more hectic — and stressful — than usual. That’s because the Department of Education once again rolled out new technology that was not ready for wide release.

The DOE introduced the Student Transcript and Academic Reporting System (STARS) this year to take student report cards into the 21st century. But the Web-based electronic program has been riddled with problems since its debut.

Teachers said the system crashed repeatedly, lost data and consumed hours of their personal time. City officials have promised technical fixes, but meanwhile teachers say it has been a major source of anxiety.

Although some middle schools have used the virtual report card in previous years, it was new for elementary schools. The UFT has filed a union-initiated grievance on behalf of the many teachers who reached out to the union about lack of access to adequate equipment and how much time outside regular hours they were putting into STARS-related work.

Kristen Lampman, a 5th-grade teacher at PS 89 in Elmhurst, Queens, said it took her 30 seconds to input a single digit of a grade, and if she added comments, the grades she entered would disappear. Her principal gave her extra time, but it was a tough slog.

“It was really poorly designed and implemented,” Lampman said. “And the DOE servers couldn’t handle it.”

Lampman and many other teachers thought Election Day would be the perfect time to enter grades in STARS, but the heavy volume of users caused the system to slow down and freeze. Others got error messages or warnings that the STARS site was not secure. Lampman said she finally got through on a Sunday at 7 a.m.

Melissa Borzouye, a 4th-grade teacher at PS 154 in Flushing, Queens, said she spent about six hours at home one weeknight attempting to enter student data.

“It can’t handle traffic,” Borzouye said. She also saw data disappear from her screen, which she then had to re-enter.

UFT Vice President for Education Catalina Fortino and other union officials met with DOE representatives on Nov. 13 to demand that the situation be rectified.

“They are working on the technical fixes,” Fortino said. Among the promised improvements: a larger button icon to save work on the page and a warning that navigating away from the page will result in the loss of data. The UFT has also recommended that the DOE provide more training for schools.

This year may mark only the beginning of challenges ahead. Using STARS was an option for elementary schools this year, but next year it will be required for everyone. That worries Fortino. “Many of our schools do not have proper bandwidth,” she said.