Now that the school year is in full swing, I thought I would write about Eureka City Schools PowerSchool program. PowerSchool is a communication system that allows students, teachers and parents to stay informed through the web and email. PowerSchool was originally developed by Apple, but is now being developed by a company called Pearson Education.

We have a daughter at Winship Middle School so have been using the system for a couple years and have found it really useful. Each Monday we get an email notice of events at the school. We also receive a summary update on our daughter’s progress in each class, if her lunch account needs more cash and other good information. The amount of detail and frequency of the email reports can be adjusted.

We can also login to her account on the web and get detailed information on assignments missed or late, and can email any of her teachers. If you area an iCal user you or your child can sync classroom calendars with your iCal. You can do the same with the general school event calendar.
Of course, none of this is a substitute for having real conversations with your child. But it certainly promotes clarity in conversations when all the facts are available to everyone. With everyone leading such busy lives, the availability of this information in a convenient form actually increases our involvement in our daughter’s school and progress.
While the warning says not all teachers are thoroughly up to speed on the system, we have had very good results. I imagine the more parents use the system the more teachers will need to participate.

I don’t know if other local school systems have the same or similar program, but Eureka City Schools should be congratulated for making this available. If you have a child in a Eureka City School and have Internet access, you really should take advantage of this handy tool.