Parents’ access to schools enhanced MDI among first to launch program

BAR HARBOR – A groundbreaking Web-based computer program is making it possible for parents to log on and check out their high school students’ grades, homework and attendance.

Mount Desert Island Regional High School is one of only a handful of schools in Maine that have installed and launched the PowerSchool program, Principal Robert Liebow said Wednesday.

Letters will be mailed next week to all parents of high school students, explaining how the program works and providing a secure user name and password to get into the system, he said.

Students will not be able to hack into the system and change their grades, Liebow said.

Although the program has been used at MDI for three years, this month marks the first time parents will have full access to their children’s school information in all high school classes.

Parents who don’t have a computer can get the same information over the phone in an automated program, Liebow said.

The Apple software program, used extensively on the West Coast, will improve communication among teachers, parents and students, and everyone will benefit, Liebow said.

While schools are offered myriad software choices for information management, PowerSchool is the only Web-based program which allows teachers, parents and students to access information literally from anywhere in the world, the school administrator said.

“Traditionally, high schools are isolated places,” Liebow said, especially for parents who find it hard to keep track of all of their children’s teachers and classes. “What this allows is for parents to find out what’s going on.”

The PowerSchool link is provided on the high school Web site. The address is: www.mdihs.u98.k12.me.us/

The few school officials who have attended “PowerSchool University” in Salt Lake City are convinced the program will revolutionize school for both students and parents. As teachers become more comfortable with the software, more and more information will become available to parents.

“PowerSchool does not replace the traditional communication we have with parents,” such as report cards and conferences, “but this makes the information available on demand,” said Larry Frazier, technology coordinator for the Yarmouth School System.

Frazier spent five days in August learning about the new program and already has implemented it in the elementary schools. Other Maine school districts that use PowerSchool include Bangor, Gray-New Gloucester, Scarborough and Freeport, Frazier said.

“If I sound excited about this, it’s because I am,” Frazier said Thursday. “If you want parents and students to get involved in education and school, this has tremendous power. And we’re learning as we go.”

Some schools are just beginning to use the program, such as Bangor and Yarmouth, while MDI has been working with it for three years.

Scott McFarland, who implemented the program at the MDI high school as former assistant principal, agreed with Frazier that the PowerSchool system’s capabilities far exceed what parents and students will be able to glimpse now. More features will be added in time, McFarland said, as both teachers and parents get more comfortable with the program.

“It’s just incredible what it can do,” McFarland said.

After a yearlong pilot project, the MDI high school is ready to launch the program for all classes, Liebow said.

Parents can click on their child’s class and see his grade and assignments. A click of the mouse on the assignment will give a description of the homework project and how much of the grade is riding on it. A click on the teacher’s name provides an pre-addressed e-mail box for parents to write to teachers and ask questions.

Students also can log on to get the information, making it tougher to explain why homework wasn’t completed.

“We found [during the pilot project] that a lot of the kids were using it. I think the majority of kids will think it is positive,” McFarland said.

Parents also will be able to track their children’s attendance, the school officials said. What’s more, the computer program offers a telephone component – which the school already is using – whereby an automated system dials the homes of kids who don’t show up for school to let parents know about their absence. The calls are made twice daily, after the morning and afternoon attendance checks, Liebow said.

The computer will redial the number until it reaches a parent, Liebow said.

While some students at the high school might find the new program helpful, not all of them will.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” said freshman Jon Lewis, who said he wasn’t aware of the program.

Matt Reed, a fellow classmate, went further. “It’s not fair because you can’t skip and get away with it,” Reed said. “And it’s kind of scary if they can find out about your grades.”

But freshman David Wood liked the idea. “I think it’s a good thing because I think parents should be able to check up on our grades and know how we’re doing,” he said.