Lynn parents able to track students online

LYNN – The old saying “the dog ate my homework” needs an upgrade to “the dog ate my iPad” if local students want to avoid having parents keep tabs on their academic progress, or decline, by snooping online.About 261 parents are signed up and logged into the Lynn Public School?s home access center, and another 294 mothers, fathers and guardians are waiting to log into the student grade and attendance system.Launched as a pilot program last year and officially started this month, home access gives students and parents a test-by-test and homework-assignment-by-homework-assignment glance at how well middle and high school students are doing in school.Students can also use the system, and Ryan Johnston is one of 457 who have signed up so far. The Lynn Vocational Technical Institute senior considers himself a good student with grades that rarely drop below a B minus, but he said his parents track him closely through their home access log-ons.?My dad likes to keep tabs on me and my brother; he?s always snooping around,” Johnston said.When a teacher initially marked him “absent” a week ago before changing the notation, the telephone call from his mother came almost instantly.?She asked, ?Are you in school??” he said.Since home access?s introduction, Tech Director Diane Paradis said parents call her up wondering why a test their son or daughter took on a particular day has not been recorded by a teacher onto home access by that evening.?I tell them, ?It takes time,?” Paradis said.The School Department launched home access after local principals heard their peers in other school districts praise the online system, said school data base manager Emily Meechin.With 5,000 students attending local middle and high schools, not including Classical High School with its own online system called Jupiter, Meechin said home access participation is relatively low for now.?I think anticipation of mid-quarter grades will start to drive it up,” she said.Early October progress reports will tell students and their parents if they are sailing or staggering to the Nov. 7 end of the academic year?s first quarter.?I?m really hoping to see usage grow. The purpose is to increase parents? interest in students? schoolwork day to day,” she said.Johnston is taking five Tech courses this quarter, with health technology as his vocational specialty. He managed to score a 100 on a 20th century history paper about the atomic bomb, but he is worried about his upcoming grades in biotechnology.?Biotech?s definitely the toughest course,” he said.Meechin said home access updates are translated into Spanish and include and list tardiness and suspensions, as well as class absences.Johnston said the system gives his teachers a break by reducing the number of students who pester them about scores on significant or particularly difficult tests. He thinks word-of-mouth familiarity with home access will prompt more students and parents to log on.?What?s the harm?” he said. “Besides, you know which kids are doing the work and which aren?t.”