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Published Thursday, August 14, 2008 in Education
Parents can gain computer access to student data starting Monday
The Times-Herald
Starting Monday, Coweta County parents will be a click away from being able to find out if their child played hooky, had homework or passed that test he didn't bother to study for last week.
Parents can go to any one of the children's schools, starting on Aug. 18, to sign up for the Parent Portal access to Infinite Campus, the school system's Internet-based student information database. To use it, parents or guardians need a computer that can access the Internet. System requirements can be viewed online at the Parent Portal Web site at www.cowetaschools.org/campus.
At their child's school, the parent will receive an activation key code to create a Portal household account. Parents will have to show identification and sign a user agreement to receive the code.
The household account will show information about each of one of their children in the school system once the parent logs in with his username and password. The username stays the same, but the password can be changed anytime by the parent.
The account will allow parents to access the most current information about their children's class schedules, courses, grades, daily attendance, testing information, student fees and other records.
The account also shows the school calendar and any messages from the school as well as links to teachers' e-mail.
Letters advising parents of the Parent Portal connection went home with students this week.
Once parents receive their unique code and log-in, they'll be linked to instructions on how to set up their computers at home, work or from their laptops to check on their children's school-related information and activities. Parent Portal can be accessed from anywhere parents can establish an Internet connection.
A user guide with pictures of the computer screens parents will see is available online on the portal's Web site.
Phil Kline, an activation specialist in Coweta County Schools information technology department, said the portal's interconnectivity features will also be easy and convenient for parents to use.
"If they go to a student's schedule, they'll read where they can click on who the teacher is and they can email the teacher from there. On the calendar, it will list any outstanding assignments and due dates for each student in that household," he said.
The Parent Portal had been in use already by about 1,500 to 2,000 teachers who also have students in the school system.
Kline said the IT department expects some of the initial issues with parents going online to use the portal might be with some parents' lack of familiarity with the Internet and impatience on when some of the information will appear.
"It's not going to be as current as to what the teachers put in there," he said. "If junior took a test today, Mom is not going to see that test score today; and I think that's where the patience is going to have to come in. The teacher is not going to go in and put the grade in that night."
The school board received an update on the Parent Portal from IT Director David Thibadeau at its Aug. 12 meeting. After Thibadeau explained parents experiencing problems could email their questions or comments, school board member Harry Mullins asked instead for an IT support number to be posted for parents to call should they experience difficulty with the technology.
One of Mullins' concerns was that parents who log in after they get home in the evenings won't be able to reach an IT person at the school system's offices after 5 p.m.
"I can see frustration there if parents are having problems, and they don't have anyone to talk to," he said. "It may not be necessary for the whole year, but it may be necessary in the beginning."
Superintendent Blake Bass agreed, and asked for the IT data center to be manned from 8 a.m. to 12 midnight for the first 30 days. The IT support number (770-304-7950) for the portal will also be posted on the portal's Web site.
The school system also plans demonstrations of the Parent Portal at parent-teacher organization meetings.
"We'll do a live demonstration so that they can see it work because some people are just afraid to work with technology, and if they can see it, they'll see that it is very easy to operate," Bass said.
Mullins also expressed concerns about accessibility and security of the data information and whether all precautions had been exercised.
Bass and Thibadeau assured the board that security issues with the Infinite Campus portal have been a high priority.
The portal forces "strong" password usage, which means passwords have to be at least eight characters long and case sensitive. Parents will also be required to reset the passwords every 90 days.
Bass added that the computer sessions are also "timed-out" automatically if the account has been dormant for more than an hour. Repeated unsuccessful log-in attempts will also disable the account, forcing users to contact the school system to have the account reactivated. Parents will also be able to see the activity use on the account by viewing an access log.
Only custodial parents or guardians listed in the student's records can have codes. While parents are asked not to share their code, the school system recognizes that for students of divorced parents in separate households, one parent or guardian can receive the code, use it to activate the account and simply share the password with the other custodial parent or guardian in the other household.
Schools will also work with parents who lack computers by offering them access to Parent Portal through the school's computers in their media centers/libraries, said Dean Jackson, school system public information officer. The Coweta County Library System also has computer resources at its branches.