Web helps teachers hook up with parents

Hiding notes from school might become a dying art. Parents can boot up computers to get the lowdown.

By MONIQUE FIELDS

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 16, 2001

Linda Roberts sought a second opinion last October when her son, Kyle, said he didn't have any math homework. She quickly logged onto schoolnotes.com, a Web site where teachers can list homework assignments and test dates.

A few clicks later, she learned he had plenty of homework.

"Oh, I forgot about that," said Kyle, a seventh-grader at Seminole Middle School.

His mother wasn't convinced.

"He tried to pull one over on us, but now he can't do that, not in two classes at least."

In increasing numbers, teachers throughout the Tampa Bay area are using technology to apprise parents of their children's progress and behavior.

"More and more are doing that as they get comfortable with the technology," said Bob Liles, supervisor of user support for Pinellas County Schools.

Until the electronic age harkened, bad-news report cards, quizzes and notes sent home with students sometimes disappeared into a black hole. Now nuggets of information can be summoned quickly on computer screens.

By using a teacher's full name (firstname_lastname@places.pcsb.org) parents can reach 80 percent of Pinellas County's teachers, said Ron Stone, district spokesman. In Hillsborough County, parents soon can look forward to similar electronic perks as the school district negotiates a $50-million exclusive contract with Compaq.

In Pasco, 20 parents were given home computers, thanks to one school's effort to put them there, and parents at another Pasco school are regularly updated electronically. In Pinellas County, homework assignments and discipline problems are discussed via e-mail.

At Seven Springs Middle School in Pasco County, David Kall, a technology specialist, and assistant principal Steve Salerno tossed around several electronic ideas before officially creating the Jaguar Gazette, an electronic newsletter e-mailed to the parents of 800 students.

Sent a few times a month, the newsletter lists all school happenings, including upcoming book fairs, high-achieving teachers and reminders for parents about writing tests needed for admittance to the district's International Baccalaureate program.

"Students can no longer hide major events," Kall said. "Parents can no longer say, "I didn't know."'

Hillsborough administrators are moving in the same direction. As soon as they complete negotiations with Compaq, they will begin talks to buy software that can electronically link schools with those outside.

"We want someone to provide us with an interactive software package that would allow for a sharing of information among teachers, parents and students," said Mark Hart, a spokesman for the district. "We want to share homework, lesson plans and other communication between teachers and parents."

Computers frequently play a role in classroom instruction, but schools, stymied in the early years by so few parents owning them, have been slow to use them to communicate with parents.

Pasco's Northwest Elementary School couldn't wait for parents. Using federal funds, the school bought 22 iMac computers in 1999 and delivered them to parents.

"If they don't even know how to turn a computer on, we work with them," said Roberta Everling, a parent involvement educator at Northwest.

Families who don't have a computer but can foot a monthly $15 bill for Internet service are chosen for the program each year. Every night their children connect to a site where they can complete reading and math programs specifically designed for them.

"It's like having a tutor in the house," said Fran Sepulveda, the grandmother of three Northwest students. "The computer tells them where they're wrong and corrects their answers."

Three months ago, Sepulveda had never turned on a computer. She now regularly sends e-mail to her children's teachers.

In Pinellas County, schoolnotes.com makes it easier for parents to keep up with their children's homework. Parents type in the ZIP code of their child's school, click on the school's icon and then click on the teacher's name. A final click on the "notify me" button sends an e-mail to the parent each time a teacher changes his lesson plans.

The "notify me" button also gives teachers a pipeline to parents.

Currently, 33 teachers in Pinellas County, 51 in Hillsborough and 28 in Pasco use schoolnotes.com, said Linda Andries, senior vice president of marketing for EdGate, which runs the free Web site.

Susan Mandeville, a math teacher at Seminole Middle, uses it to let parents know how their children are doing on weekly quizzes, alert them of missing assignments and tell them how their students can improve their grades.

"It gives me instant communication with them," she said.

E-mail also does wonders for disciple problems.

When an Osceola High School student cheated on a social studies assignment, Barb Ferguson didn't even bother to pick up the phone. She e-mailed his mother at work. Another student repeatedly wore a charm in the shape of a marijuana leaf to school. After a quick electronic note, the charm never surfaced again.

Parents are urging Ferguson, a ninth-grade earth science teacher, to set up her own Web site. Students, however, want her to shut down her electronic chalkboard.

"Will you please stop e-mailing my mother?" they plead.

"They don't want their parents to know anything," Ferguson said. "They want them to be in the dark."

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