School trustees say parents should get online access

Schools should be given more money to build online websites providing parents with up-to-date information on everything from attendance to their child's behaviour, says the School Trustees Association.

President Chris Haines said an initiative by Avondale College should be the start of a "wave of far greater sharing of information" between schools and parents.

The Avondale plan, launched at the beginning of this school year, offers parents daily updates on student information, including detentions and academic progress, with a few mouse clicks.

Mr Haines said a lot of data held by the Ministry of Education could be made available to parents.

But for many boards of trustees, funding remained a problem and "one which can act to stifle innovative, but potentially expensive, change".

Avondale College used its own money for the programme - a luxury not all schools can afford.

Avondale principal Brent Lewis said the website would help reduce truancy, but it was not designed to get students into trouble with their parents. Parents got a confidential code and login and "from that area they can draw NCEA data, they can draw attendance data and they can draw detention data", he said.

Education Minister Steve Maharey has said he will monitor the Avondale initiative closely and promote it if it is successful.

While the plan would not be forced on schools, he said, information technology funding was likely to increase during the next few years, and principals could choose to use that for a parents website.

The Government is also investigating funding and the level of parental donations to see, among other things, where the money is spent, and whether it can be better allocated.

Meanwhile, National education spokesman Bill English said the ministry's SchoolSMART website should be opened up to parents. The site is a resource for principals and trustees, with information on finances and staff.