Report cards now anti-climactic

Columbia County students on Monday brought home report cards from the first nine weeks of the school year.

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Ho-hum. Report card day was once anticipated with excitement or dread, depending on the grades it contained. But paper reports are so yesterday for families using i-Parent.

The virtual report card system provides Internet access to student grade and attendance records. With a secure login, parents can keep track of their students without having to wait on report cards or progress reports.

Angie Deming, with the school system's tech department, says all of the county's high schools and middle schools are now active on i-Parent; one elementary school is piloting the program this year. Parents have activated more than 10,600 accounts, Deming adds.

It's so successful that Richmond County schools are now preparing to pilot i-Parent.

After the rest of the elementary schools are linked, the only thing Columbia County needs is full participation. In such a wired community, there is little excuse for parents to not sign on.

It's easy to do: The parent simply gets an access key from their child's school, goes to the school system Web site (www.ccboe.net) and clicks on the i-Parent link.

And it sure beats waiting for those paper report cards.

Columbia County parents can give report cards, too.

As noted in her letter to the editor Sunday, School Board Chairman Regina Buccafusco is seeking citizen comments for a "report card" of the school system. "What are we doing right? Where can we improve? What isn't working very well?" Buccafusco asks.

Respond to jbuccafusco1@comcast.net. If you'd like to share your suggestions, send a copy to cnt@newstimesonline.com.