Parkland Wants all Teachers to Have a Website

About 75 percent of teachers in the have created websites to communicate better with students and parents.

While they have voluntarily created the websites during the past three years, the district is now telling the remainder of teachers that they should create sites by the close of the 2011-2012 school year, according to , assistant to the superintendent for operations. 

“It’s a communications tool and an instructions tool,” Smith said.

Two people in the district office, who work with Smith, are coordinating the effort to get all teachers onboard: Jason Henry, coordinator of educational technologies, and Joan McCue, Internet applications specialist.

Smith and Henry gave the school board’s Education and Athletics Committee an update Tuesday about the uses of technology in the Parkland School District. “There is a lot of excitement” among teachers regarding the websites, Henry told the committee.

A significant amount of information can be found on the sites, which vary greatly, depending on grade level:

* A kindergarten teacher at Kernsville Elementary School tells parents what their children are studying in language arts and mathematics. The teacher provides the schedule for music, art and library, and explains the homework to expect during the upcoming week.

The kindergarten website also tells about upcoming events – the first field trip and the Halloween parade – and provides links to educational websites.

* A fourth grade teacher’s website at Kernsville Elementary explains what students will be studying in math, reading and spelling. It also gives a list of helpful class supplies, explains curriculum goals, and provides a calendar with times for music, physical education, computer lab and art.

* A sixth grade website for gives information on assemblies, field trips and fundraisers. It also provides information on upcoming tests and projects, plus tips for school supplies to help students be more organized.

* websites have similar information, while also giving background information about teachers and how they can be contacted.

The teachers’ websites have become so prevalent during the past three years, Smith said, that many parents take it for granted that their children’s teachers will have them.