Using Technology to Keep Informed and Organized

There are eight ways in which parents (and students) can use technology to aid in planning and managing a busy schedule:

• Newsletters and Notices
  • All members of the Alexandra community (parents, students, staff, and people who are very important to the student such as grandparents) are encouraged to subscribe to our emailed newsletters. This once a month publication is how we communicate important messages. It replaced notices sent home on paper (that usually never got home and saves a forest full of trees). Again the reliability of getting these messages to the target audience is significantly increased. For example we have about 500 students yet there are 1009 people who receive our emailed newsletters and notices. For those people who do not have access to the internet a limited number of hardcopies are printed out and available in the school office for students or parents to pick up.
• Homework
  • Many teachers post student homework on the front page of our school website. All a parent or student has to do to access this information is to click on their homeroom (such as 8F). Note not all teachers use this service and not all subjects lend themselves to such a service.
• Accessing Student Files at Home
  • Students have the ability to access their school files at home via the internet. Students may download school files to their home computer to continue working on them and then upload them back to the school.
• Voicemail
  • All teacher have a voice mail box where students and parents may leave messages. This facilitates communication as people are able to respond when it suits them even if it is three in the morning. It also means that teachers will not be interrupted when they are teaching a class. Each staff member's voice mail box is listed on this website (on the Staff biography pages) and in the agenda and first issue of the school newsletter, The Jayhawker.
• Email
  • All school district staff have email addresses. But if you are unsure of their address you may use the "Contact Us" button in the blue menu bar of our web page but please be sure to tell us which staff member you wish to contact.
  • Due to concerns about the spread of viruses and the like all internet based email programs are blocked from working in any School District school. Students can be set up on the School District student email account and this will work within our schools.
• Breaking News and Calendar of Events
  • Our website hosts the top 6 Alexandra news stories for the day in addition it contains the link to our calendar for the school year. A very useful feature to keep on top of events and for future planning.
• Our Webpage
  • We endeavor to keep our webpage as informative and useful as possible. For example you can check out a staff member's picture and bio to learn a little more about them or see which clubs or teams exists at our school. Each subject area is also listed on our website with useful information, links and for many samples of work or events. New items are constantly being added to our website but we always have to function within the limits of FOIPS and prudent publications as we are posting this for the whole world to see. We appreciate your comments as we always need critical friends (especially if you notice any errors that may have been missed as these can be most embarassing for a school.)