Friday, September 29, 2000
Kings links with home computer
Students, parents can check grade
By Jennifer Mrozowski
The Cincinnati Enquirer
DEERFIELD TWP. — End-of-semester report card shock will be a thing of the past next year for many parents in the Kings Local School District.
Kings is installing innova tive technology that will, among other things, put teacher grade books online for grades 5 through 12. Parents and students will have to use a password to see a child's grades, said Bob Grimshaw, the district's director of technology.
The remote-access technology, developed by a California company, Citrix, is being used in a pilot program by some Kings teachers to access stored school files through the Internet.
“The really nice thing about Citrix is, we can call up these files from home,” said Cheryl Bogen, a fifth-grade special education teacher. “Sometimes there's just not enough time for work during the school day.”
Like a briefcase
Mrs. Bogen uses the technology to create individualized education plans, about nine pages of required paperwork, for each of her 12 special education students.
She said she's used the technology to access school- related work in the middle of the night when she can't sleep.
The remote access is now running on about 110 of the district's 1,000 computers, Mr. Grimshaw said. That cost the district about $6O,000.
All of the district's computers should be running with the technology next year. The cost will be an additional $150,000 to have 3,000 of the district's 3,500 students tapped into the technology system, Mr. Grimshaw said.
The new technology saves Kings hundreds of thousands of dollars by taking old computers, printers and monitors and making new use of them, he said. Instead of replacing more than 850 computers with expired warranties, the district bought the new central location server, in effect updating all the computers, Mr. Grimshaw said.
The technology might even take the place of home tutors, said district spokeswoman Linda Oda. For about $50, parents can buy a video camera to attach to their home computers, allowing teachers and students to chat face-to-face via the screen, Ms. Oda said.
Home-school link
Another benefit is that all the software available to staff members at school will be accessible through home computers.
“More importantly, students will be able to continue projects at home that they couldn't finish in class — in effect extending classroom time,” Ms. Oda said.
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