Slow To Access Multiuser DB On Server HELP

I not a big time DB person so please be gentle. I am a computer technician at a school district and need some help. We use a program called Aeries made by Eagle Software for out attendance and grading. It uses an interface that runs through Microsoft Access. There are two version of this software. One is the SQL version and the other just uses an Access DB on a server. We have the Access DB version running Access 2003. It was explained and accepted in the beginning that we didn’t really need the SQL version because of our district size which is some where around 1500 students. Our district consists of 6 school sites that are all connected with a fiber optic backbone running at 200mb with a minimum of 100mb to each desktop. We have a DB for each site running on 1 very beefy server in a central location. I’ve run my problem by the software maker and don’t feel like I’m getting much help. The problem I am having is slowness during login. When the first user of the day attempts to login the program is fast, about 10 seconds from “ENTER” to the main menu. As soon as that 1st user clicks one of the menu buttons anyone else who attempts to login to that database after that experiences at least 30 seconds from “ENTER” to the main menu. I’ve watched what files are accessed and when. I see that when the 1st user logs in, the systemxp.mdw file is accessed and a systemxp.ldb file is created. Then when the user clicks a button on the main menu, the sch05xxx.mdb is accessed and a sch05xxx.ldb file is created. The sch05xxx.mdb file is the main database file for any particular site. The “xxx” would be the site number. As soon as that file is accessed or that lock file is created the user will experience the long login times and sometimes as long as 4 minutes. I don’t believe this is a hardware problem. During the same time that users are slow I have made a copy of one of the databases onto the same HDD on the same server and as long as I’m the 1st person to open it, it will fly. The 2nd person is slow just like the rest. I also don’t think it’s a permission issue, at least not in the domain. I’ve run all these test logged in as myself and have Domain Admin rights to everything. I believe this is a “split database” with the tables on the server and the forms, and queries on the users computer. I read an article here, http://www.microsoft.com/office/previous/xp/columns/column05.asp called “Why is Access 2000 slow for more than one user?” Has anyone else had this problem or have a solution? If I’ve missed something and you need more info please let me know.

Thank you for your time and I appreciate any responses
John