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Web site opens communication in CA

VENTURA, Calif. – When Gary Feskens wants to find out what his son is doing in school, he goes no further than his home computer. There he can look up homework assignments, check grades – even find his son’s baseball schedule.

By JEAN COWDEN MOORE
Scripps Howard News Service

Feskens is taking advantage of a new Web site offered through Oaks Christian School, which allows him to stay abreast of his son’s education even though he commutes from his home in Oak Park, Calif., to St. Louis every week.

"Sometimes when kids get older, they don’t always tell you everything, or you want to double-check," said Feskens, whose son is a junior at the private school in Westlake Village. "This way, you can get specifics. It’s kind of a nifty thing."

Other school districts are considering similar sites, allowing parents to use their home computer to track their children’s grades, check their attendance or print a transcript.

"It’s on everybody’s to-do list or their wish list," said James Morante, a spokesman for the California School Boards Association. "However, the wanting to do it and the ability to do it are two different things."

While proponents tout the sites as a way to improve communication between schools and parents, the innovation comes at a time when California is facing its worst budget crisis in years, with Gov. Gray Davis proposing cuts of $1.5 billion in schools during the next six months.

But if these sites work the way educators envision, they will save time and money, as well as provide a quick, easy way for parents and students to get information they need, proponents say.

If parents can look up their children’s report cards online, then districts don’t have to spend thousands of dollars mailing them. If they can print a copy of their children’s transcripts, the counseling office saves a few minutes finding and then copying it. If they can find when and where the track meet will be, someone else saves a few minutes on the phone.

"It allows parents to have a timely and easy-to-use window into their student’s school experience," said Tom Konjoyan, director of development at Oaks Christian. "And it allows schools to communicate with parents in an inexpensive, fast way – right to their desktops, rather than through the mail."

Still, many administrators are proceeding cautiously, partly because such Web sites can be time-consuming to maintain, and in some cases expensive to launch.

Many are also worried about security. They want to make sure outsiders can’t access and change student records kept by the district. And they want to guarantee that parents and students can check only their own records and no one else’s.

To guard against those possibilities, schools that now have Web sites require parents to sign in with a password and user ID. Sites for parents are not directly linked to the district’s records, so outsiders can’t get to them.

Cost can also be an factor, though many school districts already have the capacity to offer such services. For those that don’t, the sites could end up paying for themselves if they prove sufficiently popular that districts can cut down on postage costs, administrators said.

While the new technology might be a more efficient way to get information out, some students have misgivings, saying parents shouldn’t be constantly checking up on their children as they approach college.

"With juniors and seniors, it should be more the student’s responsibility to get the work done," said Christina Cochran, 18, a senior at Oaks Christian. "But I also see the parents’ point of view. …"

While many teachers already post homework assignments either on a Web site they’ve created or on a school site, others hesitate to give up time they could devote to lessons or family.

(Contact Jean Cowden Moore of the Ventura County Star in California at jcmoore(at)insidevc.com.)

http://www.abqtrib.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=EDU-WEBSITES-12-30-02&cat=AS

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