STAYING INFORMED •
Juab School District will be implementing the
PowerSchool webpage for the use of local parents
soon which will allow access to information about
area schools and progress of their students. From
left to right are Rick Welsh, school board member,
Superintendent Kirk Wright, Tony Sperry, District
computer specialist and Jeff Lynn, school board
candidate. Photo by Myrna Trauntvein.
By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Juab School District will soon have a user-friendly
web page where patrons can visit to find out just what is
happening at any of the schools.
In addition, using PowerSchool system, parents may log
in and, with a password which they will be assigned, can
determine just what their student is doing in each class,
what the homework assignments are and how the student is
scoring on exams.
Other student's information will be kept private with
each parent being able just to see their own student's
records.
"Just last year we (district personnel) evaluated our
system and decided to go with Power School because 70
percent of the schools in the state are using it," he
said.
The program was also more in the mode the state wanted
and, therefore, providing the information requested by the
state was easier to gather and transport.
"Teachers were frustrated with the system we were
using and are happy with the new system because it is easy
to enter grades, attendance, and even the seating chart for
the classroom," he said.
Transcripts are easy to print using the program and
the bell schedule is also available.
"We can get a daily enrollment," said Kirk Wright,
superintendent. "We can enter a lot of demographics and can
print and check schedules."
A secretary will monitor the excused and non-excused
attendance lists which are generated as the classroom
teacher feeds the information into the program.
"If a parent logs in, the parent can see, for example,
if their student made the first period class," said Sperry.
Another benefit to the new program is that teachers
can list tests and assignments in advance so that parents
and students can visit the site and see what is going
on.
The ideal, and a goal, is to encourage all teachers to
keep information current. If the scores, for example, are
kept up-to-date, then the parent can see if a student needs
to re-take a test and can get a hands-on feel for what their
student is.
Parents will also be able to communicate with teachers
via e-mail. The parent can send a message and when the
teacher can then review the message and respond without
taking time away from students.
In addition to grades, grade history, and attendance
and attendance history, parents can receive e-mail
notification of student progress and teacher comments.
School bulletins can be posted, class registration
dates, calendars and reports will be available.
"A parent can get a weekly progress report," said
Sperry.
He said he tried it out and found it effective.
"I get my report every week ," he said. "It is sent on
Sunday night so it is ready for review by me early Monday
morning."
As for the website, said Sperry, proschool has layers
which are most helpful. It also has a hot link to the
e-mail.
"All you have to know to make it work is word
processing," said Sperry.
Photos can also be added to information being fed into
the computer.
PowerSchool and the website can both be beneficial to
parents and students alike, said Sperry.
Within a month, all of the technology should be in
place so that parents can be assigned passwords and the
program can be used to help parents keep track of what is
happening in the schools And how their students are
doing.
Photos may even be added to the rest of the
information available ton the website.
PowerSchool and Proschool are two separate
programs.
Proschool is a professional website which the district
has set up with a company in Midway. Like other websites, it
is designed to present the district's patrons with
information about the district.
PowerSchool is a program which allows the district to
send reports to the state and to provide access to student
and individual school information by parents. It comes with
a CD that demonstrates the program so that parent groups in
the area can receive training on how to gain access to
student information.
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