No longer are parent-teacher conferences the sole means to following up on a child’s in-class performance. The Demopolis City Schools system has a way for parents to check practically every aspect of their child’s progress at school online
“This new program is called Student Information Systems,” said DCS technology coordinator Jeremiah Dial. “It holds all of our student data, all of our teacher data, student grades, attendance and discipline. Anything that has to do with students, this is where it is.
“We have integrated a home portal to allow the parents to log in and see the information instead of having to call the school. We’ll give the parents a user name and password to log in with, and they will be able to go in and see if their child was absent and if it was excused, what period they were absent in, what classes they have and when and so on.”
The program helps bring parents closer to the school without actually having to go to the school.
“The greatest thing about this program is the information that it gives,” Dial said. “It’s incredible that the parents can go on here and see anything that happens with their children. You want as much parental involvement as possible, because it always starts in the home.”
Dial said the schools have begun using SchoolCast, an automated phone-dialing system, which enables the school system to contact thousands of people with information instantly.
Parents can go online through the STI InformationNOW page and make sure that their contact information is correct and up-to-date. People can access the InformationNOW page through the school system Web site at demopoliscity.schoolinsites.com.
“There is also a discipline page that shows if a student has been disciplined, and for what,” Dial said. “Parents won’t have to call the schools. They would be able to see the infraction and the result.
“Parents would be able to see their child’s grades throughout the year. It’s very, very detailed. Teachers can put notes on the activities if they want to, to help further inform the parents.”