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Parents Can Get Kids' School Info Online -- Grades, Conduct, Attendance and Assignments Available

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 August 2005, 09:01 CDT

Parents of students in DeSoto County Schools will be able to use their home computers this fall to check on their children's grades, attendance, conduct and assignments, a school official said.

"We are very excited about this program," Martha McIntosh, the school district's director of management information systems, told a group of school office workers and other personnel during a workshop Friday at school district headquarters in Hernando.

Parents who participate in the Internet-based ParentConnect program will have to register on line and cannot register by going to schools or school board offices, McIntosh said.

To register, they may go directly to desotoparents.com or to desoto.k12.ms.us and click on a link to the program.

People with children at more than one school, should include all the children and their schools in one registration

As part of security measures, 10 days after registering, parents must go to the main office of the school where their child or one of their children attends, provide a picture identification of themselves and receive login and password information. In order to register, a parent must be in the student's database at the school.

The system will be a secure system, and a parent will have access only to the information on his or her child, McIntosh said.

The workshop was held for the school office employees to acquaint them with the overall program and outline what they will need to do when parents bring their identifications to be checked.

McIntosh said parents will be asked to sign a "Parental Use and Responsibility Acknowledgement Statement."

She said the program is an added service for parents and does not replace any other methods of providing information. "It is not mandatory for parents," she said.

Parents who do not have computer or Internet access at home may go to libraries and use computers there, she said.

McIntosh said the program is part of the school district's efforts to maintain and expand communication with parents.

Teachers will have an option to include their e-mail addresses along with student information so that parents can contact the teacher. "This will be up to the teacher," McIntosh said.

Last school year, pilot programs were operated successfully at Horn Lake Middle School, Pleasant Hill Elementary School and DeSoto Central Elementary School, she said.

- Jimmie Covington: (901) 333-2010

Source: Commercial Appeal, The

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