ONLINE ACCESS AT SCHOOL PARENTS CAN MONITOR CHILDREN'S RECORDS.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

LANCASTER - In an effort to better communicate with parents, Desert Christian Schools has launched an Internet-based system that lets parents look at their children's school records, find out what assignments are due and what grades they have received, and even check attendance. < The new system called DCS Net went online March 31 for the school's middle grades. The school has invested $250,000 over the past three years to augment its educational technology and develop the system. The equipment and funds used have come from donations, grant sources and operational funding.

``The whole objective of this kind of action ... is to be able to let parents see in real time what is happening in their child's academic activities,'' said George Runner, chairman of the board of Desert Christian Ministries. ``Of course when they have that kind of access they can help that child in some very real ways. In just knowing what is taking place in the child's classroom in that way. But also it gives them great dialogue with the teachers.''

Initially the system will accommodate only grades six through eight or 400 students. There are 1,850 students in preschool through 12th grade.

School officials chose to start with the middle school because those students have more than one teacher and parents can have a hard time figuring out if their children are getting their work done.

The elementary grades will be added at the beginning of the 2003-04 school year and high school students will be added throughout the school year. `We're using a technology that isn't awfully new ... and using it in a new way to keep parents involved in a daily basis with what takes place in the classroom and in their student's life,'' said Cecil Swetland, executive director of the school.

The system was actually working two years ago but the school has spent the last year installing security measures, which use the latest Secure Socket Layer encryption technology with a security level of 128.

The Lancaster school's system is accessed through the Internet with a password randomly assigned by the computer. No records can accessed without the password.

Any parents who do not wish to take part in the program will not be given passwords.

Only school records - grades, assignments, attendance, report cards, course catalog and the school calendar - will be accessible, but eventually discipline and billing records will also be available online.