September 2008 Your Gateway into Our Classrooms by Van W. Riley, Ph.D., Superintendent, Huntington Beach Union High School District

As the 2008-2009 school year approaches I would like to emphasize the importance of a resource that has been available to all of the parents and students in our district since November 2006. If you have not already joined the growing user community of the Parent/Student Portal, now is a good time to learn how you can use this technology to oversee your son or daughter’s educational progress. Imagine being able to check attendance records, homework assignments, progress grades, daily bell schedules, transcript history, graduation requirements, and a multitude of other things without standing in line, playing phone tag, or waiting for an email. If this sounds like great news, you can join the thousands of parents and students who use our Parent/Student Portal system to stay on top of things.

Those who have used our portal system have found it to be invaluable. After getting on the portal for the first time, one parent enthusiastically wrote to us, “Yeah!! This is what every parent should have access to. :-)  Thank you for keeping me posted. This is a wonderful tool.” We consider the portal to be your gateway into the classroom and a powerful tool that will help empower student success. In order to create a portal user account and access your son or daughter’s school information, all you need is a computer that has Internet access. Simply go to our home page at www.hbuhsd.org and click on the “Parent/Student Portal” link to get started. It is a two-step process, so please be patient. If you are familiar with your school’s homepage, you can get to the portal using the links there as well. We strongly encourage you to take the time to read all the instructions, register and become a regular Parent/Student Portal user. There is no doubt that this will lead to opportunities for you and your teenage son or daughter to have quality discussions about their education and the progress they are making towards their future goals.

Throughout the year we will be developing and adding some new features to the portal that will enhance parent, student and teacher communication and enable students to work on their school projects with their peers and teachers in a safe and controlled environment. We welcome your comments and value your insight as to how we can further improve our portal system.

Typically, most teachers post class assignment data regularly and student progress grades every 2-3 weeks. While we are proud of the quality of our teachers, each has a unique teaching style, and they hold different philosophies on how to use technology to support classroom learning. You can find every teacher’s contact information, email address and/or phone extension, in the portal. I would encourage you to contact them should you have questions or need to communicate with them about the academic progress of your son or daughter. When sending an email message to a teacher, please put your student’s name in the subject area of the message, keep your message concise and to the point, and include a phone number where the teacher can reach you.

Great care was taken in designing our portal to be used by both parents and students. This year please plan to be involved with your child’s education by utilizing our Parent/Student Portal.