Whether a student is getting straight A’s or ditching first period, this program will tell it all.

The Menifee Union School District (MUSD) has unveiled a new computer system that will give parents access to an unprecedented amount of information about their children.

The system, ParentConnect, is made by a company called C-Innovations. It allows parents to log on to a Web site at home and view information about their student previously available only to teachers and administrators.

Some of the information parents will be able to view includes a record of their students’ attendance, a record of their behavior and punishments – such as getting detention or sent to the principal’s office – their students’ grades and even a record of what their students have bought for lunch.

The purpose of the system is for parents to be able to monitor their children’s school information from their home PC.

"A parent can see with a couple clicks if their student goes to the health office or they can make it so that if their student goes to the dean they get e-mailed right away," said Steve Thornton, MUSD director of technology.

The system will allow parents to see whether their children have missed any classes, been buying only junk food or getting detentions, Thornton said.

The system will also let parents pay for their students’ lunches online and communicate with teachers.

The new system also helps teachers. They can use the program’s "Gradebook" function to keep track of their students’ performance. Parents will then be able to see this record.

The district allows teachers to keep their grades in any way they see fit, Thornton said, but he hopes this Advertisement
new function will convince even the most old-fashioned teachers to change over to the new electronic grade book.

"More and more of our parent community are embracing Gradebook," Thornton said, "and once our parent community embraces ParentConnect more teachers will embrace [it]."

According to Thornton, out of the district’s 375 teachers, 196 have used the Gradebook program within the last 30 days and 220 have used it in the last 90 days.

That means more than half of the district’s teachers are now using the system.

This still falls short of what he expects in the future. "My own goal for the district is to get 70 percent on [Gradebook] by the end of next year, and I think ParentConnect will be a huge incentive for them," he said.

The system went online in February but the district ran it on a pilot basis, only allowing a few parents to use the program.

During the last four months, the district has been working the "bugs" out of the system and making sure it is secure for parents to use their credit cards.

Now the system is running perfectly. "It’s ready to roll," Thornton said.

The schools are now accepting applications from the parents of MUSD students to use ParentConnect.

The application process includes filling out an application. The district then "vets" the parents, Thornton said. This includes checking the parents’ identity and making sure they are who they say they are.

They also check the students to be sure the child has no restraining orders against any of their parents or any other limiting factors.

For more information on enrolling in the ParentConnect system, call the district at (951) 672-1851.