Report cards coming to a Web site
By SEAN BARRON
neighbors@vindy.com
The school district is in the early stages of implementing a new feature to its data base that promises to improve communications between students, parents and teachers.
During its meeting Monday, the board of education approved technology training for teachers of grades five through 12 for the program, which will allow parents to access their children’s grades online starting at the beginning of the 2010-11 school year.
Another benefit of the upgrade will be quick access to students’ attendance, discipline reports, class schedules, test data and transcripts, noted Vince Procopio, Poland Seminary High School’s principal. The technology should be cost-efficient, partly by reducing the need for paper and eliminating grade books; it also is to improve reliability of information gathered during parent-teacher conferences, he explained.
The feature is safe and provides confidentiality for each student’s records while allowing for greater transparency, said Kevin Snyder, Poland High’s assistant principal. In addition, Snyder continued, it won’t be an added cost to the district.
A pilot group of parents and teachers is taking part, and certain glitches are being worked out, he said.
Along similar lines, the district is revising its Web site and could have the project finished by month’s end, said Superintendent Robert Zorn.
Information on the H1N1 flu virus, as well as athletic schedules, is part of what’s posted. A school calendar for this and next school year, a five-year financial forecast and maps to help people from out of the area find the schools are part of what’s to be added, Zorn said.
Also at the session, North Elementary School was recognized for being one of 20 Ohio schools to win the Radio Disney “Move It” Challenge, designed to encourage youngsters to be more physically fit.
Also, the American Red Cross Mahoning Chapter nominated the school’s parent teacher organization as Hero of the Mahoning Valley for its contributions to the community. The PTO will be honored at a breakfast Feb. 6 at Antone’s Banquet Centre in Boardman.
North students Elena Cammack and Jayla McAdams were commended for having poems published in The Vindicator’s Mini Page.
Dobbins Elementary students Bella Gajdos, Mackenzie Kempers, Jena Miller and Ryan Johnson were recognized for weather art in The Vindicator’s Kids Corner; Jena also had a poem in the Mini Page.
Other accolades went to sophomores Mitch Dinopoulos and Kaitlin Poland, who were selected to represent the school at the Hugh O’ Brien Youth Leadership Seminar, set for June 4 to 6 at Mount Union College in Alliance.
The event’s purpose is to being together a select group of 10th-graders who demonstrate leadership abilities to interact with leaders in business, government and education.