MORE SCHOOLS SETTING UP THEIR OWN WEB PAGE : PARENTS CAN GET BULLETINS ON LINE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

School notices sent home with children and daily classroom bulletins may soon just be a mouse click away for parents and students with the advent of school home pages on the World Wide Web.

More and more schools are creating these computer information sites on the Internet as another source of information with details about school events, staff biographies and student activities.

``Nothing will replace paper. This is another vehicle for us to communicate,'' said Piute Middle School language arts teacher Roger Ervin, who helped establish the school's computer lab. ``There's the newspaper, the flier, the telephone. Now we have the Internet.''

With a big push for computer technology and education in schools, home pages by schools, school districts and county education offices have been increasing, state Department of Education officials say.

``It's growing by leaps and bounds,'' said Carole Teach, a network planning manager for the state education department.

The latest count shows that Web sites have been set up at 257 elementary schools, 317 secondary schools and 88 school districts in California, Teach said.

``It gives schools or districts an opportunity to let people in the community have information directly about schools and different events that are occurring,'' Teach said. ``As more parents come on line and want to be involved in the schools, they can go to the Web site and see what's going on instead of relying on students to bring home a notice.''

Teach acknowledges that not all families have computers or access to the Internet to be able to view school home pages, but she thinks that will probably change.

``Not all parents have the capability. There are pockets of major activity,'' Teach said. ``It's not ubiquitous, it's not available to everyone, although in time, it will be.''

At Piute Middle School, the only school in the Lancaster School District to have a home page, about one in 20 students have computers at home, Ervin estimates.

``Many of them don't have computers. This is the only opportunity to even sit down and interact with one,'' Ervin said of the computer lab.

The Piute home page, posted in September, has sections on academic departments, the performing arts, news and information, messages from the principal and staff, staff biographies, and pictures from the yearbook.

The speed with which information can be posted on the home page was demonstrated Jan. 15, the day it snowed in the Antelope Valley.

``We had it on the Internet in 10 minutes,'' said Judy Brenneman, the computer lab administrator. ``We took pictures (of the snow) on a digital camera and downloaded them.''

Students have helped construct the home page by taking photographs and writing articles, Ervin said. The home page address is http://piute.lancaster.k12.ca.us.

The home page has generated interest from people far away. A student from Virginia e-mailed language arts teacher Therese Polacca after a search revealed she had worked on Navajo and Hopi Indian reservations in Arizona.

California City Middle School is among three schools in the Mojave Unified School District that have established a home page or are in the process of publishing one. The district office also has one.

``It's never finished,'' said Richard Walpole, an eighth-grade math teacher at California City, who created the school's home page and posted it in December. ``Web pages are usually living documents. If we put in the school calendar, you've got to continuously update and make changes.''

The California City Middle School home page, which opens with a picture of the school mascot, Cosmo the Coyote, lists student honor rolls, a staff directory, information on a coming science fair in March, and a list of school events.

``It's a way of disseminating information to parents and the public,'' Walpole said. It never fails that when there is a school holiday and notices are sent home to parents, four to five students show up for classes, he said.

The home page address for the California City school is http://bart.ccis.com/home/ccms.

Response to the home pages from parents and students via e-mail, telephone, fax and face-to-face contact has been positive, Ervin and Walpole said.

People have requested more information on the home page, such as bus and class schedules. Walpole said one person pointed out an erroneous computer address.

``We've incorporated suggestions from parents, who say this page is too busy-looking, try this change,'' Ervin said.

The students at Piute are excited about the school home page. ``The kids have pride from seeing the home page. They just love it,'' Brenneman said.

Ervin added, ``They sit and click on our own page and explore what's going on at the school.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--Ran in SAC and AV--color in AV only) Piute Middle School's home page is the district's first on-line site.

(2--Ran in AV only) Piute Middle School eighth-grader Paul Conners works on the school's Internet site with help from lab administrator Judy Brenneman.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News