Grading System Changes Cause Truancy Confusion

Since last semester, Infinite Campus’s scheduling format has been reworked to accommodate the new time frames of Ben Barber/Frontier “sessions.” Having only three classes a day, compared to Legacy’s four, the differences cause difficulties for attendance clerks when entering student absences.

In order to prevent the system from mistaking absences, the clerks must now evaluate a student’s schedule and make sure they don’t overlap a Legacy class absence with a Ben Barber session.

“The new schedule set-up has created more ‘schedule investigating’ for an attendance clerk to look at before they can actually place an absence on a student,” PEIMS Clerk Pamela Patterson said.

Junior Julia White* received a truancy letter telling her she’d been absent for six class periods, when in reality it had only been three—a mistake caused by Infinite Campus’s overlapping. According to White, her family couldn’t have afforded the truancy court case the mistaken letter would have caused.

“My mom called me and said ‘Why did we just get a truancy letter in the mail. Are you skipping class?’” White said. “I’m not that kind of kid. I felt like it diminished her trust in me because she sounded really frightened and I tell my mom everything.”

Attendance clerks work to elucidate this attendance confusion. When they look at the attendance record, the clerks must look at the course attendance record as opposed to the term attendance.

“Because Ben Barber has three sessions versus LHS having four blocks, it makes it difficult for the attendance clerks to go in and place an absence on a student without checking their schedule first and making sure we don’t overlap a LHS class absence into a BB session,” Mrs. Patterson said.

*Name changed upon request.

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WRITTEN BY JULIANNA DINAPOLI ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2010 AT 7:43 PM 
FILED UNDER NEWS, TOP STORY · TAGGED WITH ·  PRINT THIS POST

LINK: http://www.therideronline.com/top-story/2010/11/09/grading-system-changes-cause-truancy-confusion/

Portal for MS students

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

Portal for MS students

Just a quick acknowledgment that the parent and student portal do not always reflect the correct ongoing grade for courses with power standards. For example, if I teacher has recorded grades for one power standard in a course but not yet for the other two power standards, the grade book will use the graded work as 100% of the grade.

The portal will consider 0's for the other two power standards, and it will look as though the student is failing. Please point out to students and parents that this is an "in progress" grade and not a posted grade. It occurs only because that's the way Infinite Campus calculates.

LINK: http://tkrouth.blogspot.com/2010/09/portal-for-ms-students.html

Following breach, state delays collecting student Social Security numbers

By Lynda Clancy | Oct 04, 2010

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AUGUSTA — The effort to build a data system that includes Social Security numbers of public school students was derailed after a technology director in Gardiner's school district was able to view Social Security numbers of school staff elsewhere in the state.

Maine's Department of Education responded by dumping all Social Security numbers of public high school students collected to date, and announced Tuesday evening, Sept. 28, that it would delay collecting any more until an independent security review of the software is completed and a report is issued.

That could take several weeks, the DOE said.

The state education agency is now providing school districts a software script that allows them to upload student enrollment data without Social Security numbers.

"A software switch was turned on when it should have been off, or off when it should have been on," said David Connerty-Marin, spokesman for the Maine DOE, on Sept. 28.

The collection of Social Security numbers and other private data has met with resistance across the state from school boards, administrators, parents and the Maine Civil Liberties Union, who question the wisdom of posting information about students in a system where data could be stolen.

On Sept. 28, the DOE recognized that concern and said in a press release the delay in Social Security number collection and review of the entire Infinite Campus information system are steps taken "as privacy advocates have expressed concerns about the security of the information and because the department learned in the past few days of an error within a secondary data system not connected to the collection of student information."

The error was fixed immediately, the DOE said.

The data system is part of the education agency's decade-long project to build an information management system that links the DOE with schools around the state. Functions of the online data system include the Longitudinal Data System and the Infinite Campus system, all of which result in producing more aggregate data for federal and state reports.

Goals include assessing the effectiveness of state educational programs with the data and producing reports that comply with the No Child Left Behind Act, as well as other state and national expectations. Producing the data also keeps the state in compliance with the federal government, ensuring the flow of educational funding to Maine. Likewise, the compliance of local school districts with the state's requests for data keeps the money flowing to Maine schools.

Last year, the Legislature passed an "Act To Improve the Ability of the Department of Education To Conduct Longitudinal Data Studies" to help measure the success of students in state educational programs. The act included language allowing the DOE's commissioner to collect Social Security numbers only if federal money was flowing to expand the statewide longitudinal system. The law also required written consent from parents before entering the Social Security numbers into the system.

According to Connerty-Marin, the staff module of the Infinite Campus information system is separate from the student module, still in development, and will not be ready for full use until next fall.

"Only a handful of schools in the state have access to the staff module," he said, adding that after seeing the numbers, the Gardiner district "immediately brought it to our attention."

The student module is well established and has been in use for a couple of years, he said. "We're comfortable with the security of the student system," he said.

The independent review of the system is expected to take several weeks. Connerty-Marin said the contractor has not been hired and there a price tag has yet to be affixed to the review.

The DOE said it was immediately turning off the synchronization function in the Infinite Campus District Edition so no locally entered data can be shared with or viewed by the state or any other user.

"In addition, we will also delete any student Social Security numbers that have been entered or uploaded into the state system as a result of synchronization so far this year," the DOE said.

"We deeply appreciate that this technology director immediately recognized the issue and called the department to inform us of the error and it was resolved immediately," said DOE Commissioner Angela Faherty, in a prepared statement. "The department takes the security of private information seriously, and supports school boards, parents and school officials in their caution with respect to the collection of data."

Connerty-Marin said Sept. 28 that schools should continue to collect Social Security numbers and enter them into their individual data systems. The DOE's system is now set so that it will not accept any numbers until the security review is complete.

"After that time, the districts will be in control of when they decide to upload them," he said.

Districts across the state have been skeptical of the DOE's demands forf student Social Security numbers since last year. Earlier this month, School Administrative District 40 voted to encourage parents not to submit their children's Social Security numbers.

The collection of private data has been a bone of contention between districts and the DOE since 2007 when the state required schools to submit names of suspended students for its developing data system. The MCLU got involved and when the state began requesting submission of Social Security numbers, resistance got louder.

The DOE reasoned that collecting Social Security numbers would provide the state and school districts greater ability to track where students went to college and what work they entered following high school graduation.

In April 2009, the Five Town Community School District School Board, along with school boards from around the state, students from Hampden, educational administrators and the MCLU delivered hours of testimony before the Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs concerning the collection of private data.

"Technology has now provided government agencies with unprecedented power to peer into our private lives, to collect information on our finances, employment, health and education," said Shenna Bellows, director of the MCLU, 18 months ago. "The [Maine] Department of Education's longitudinal data system is yet one example in a long list of new government database systems."

The DOE insisted then the system needed disclosure of personally identifiable information in case the U.S. Department of Education found reason to audit Maine's DOE. The DOE's migrant program was audited in 2003, and ran the risk of losing some federal funding.

In April 2009, the education committee did not overturn the DOE's requirement that schools submit names of suspended students, and the longitudinal data system continued in its development. The "Act To Improve the Ability of the Department of Education To Conduct Longitudinal Data Studies" enacted last fall allowed the project to continue, but set parameters on the collection of Social Security numbers.

Last fall and this fall, school districts, including SADs 40 and 28, and the Five Town CSD, informed parents by letter that if they wanted to submit their children's Social Security numbers they could do so by opting in.

For more information, visit maine.gov/education.

Department of Education Stops Collecting Student Social Security Numbers Until Security Review Is Done

10/1/2010 10:09:00 AM	Email this article • Print this article
The Maine Department of Education decided on Tuesday to delay collection and submission of student Social Security numbers to the state until after they have had an independent review done of the security of its student and staff data information systems. The voluntary collection of student Social Security numbers has become controversial in some Maine communities as privacy advocates have expressed concerns about the security of the information. Last Friday, an error in a Department data system that's not connected to the collection of student information was discovered by a technology director for a Maine school system whose job duties include managing student and staff data in Infinite Campus. The technology director notified the Department that he was able to view Social Security numbers for some school staff in other school systems in the state. The Department found the cause of the error that day and restricted access to the information. According to the Department, only people with authorized access to Infinite Campus had access to the system, and the staff module that was involved, which is in the final stages of development, is separate from the other modules in the database. "The Department of Education will release the findings of the independent review, with specific recommendations for how to proceed in the most secure way," said Education Commissioner Angela Faherty. The review will be completed in the next several weeks. Meanwhile, the Department will delete student Social Security numbers that have been entered or uploaded into the State system so far this year. Districts will be provided a software script that allows them to upload student enrollment data without Social Security numbers. According to the Department, districts should continue to securely hold the Social Security number data they have already collected for later submission. "The Department takes the security of private information seriously, and supports school boards, parents and school officials in their caution with respect to the collection of data," said Faherty. LINK: http://freepressonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=52&SubSectionID=78&ArticleID=9138

Glitch delays collection of student Social Security numbers

Will delete numbers already submitted

By Matthew Stone mstone@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -- The Maine Department of Education is telling school districts to hold off on submitting students' Social Security numbers to a state database while the department works out a system error that allowed a school technology director access to restricted information.

The state education department on Tuesday said it is deleting from its data systems student Social Security numbers that have already been submitted and ordering an outside review of the security of its data collection systems.

A technology director for a Maine school district on Friday reported being able to see the Social Security numbers of staff members employed by other Maine school districts.

State education officials say they immediately located the problem and addressed it, restricting access to the staff members' Social Security information. They still plan to hire an outside contractor to determine how the private information became available and how to prevent future data breaches, the department said.

"The department takes the security of private information seriously, and supports school boards, parents and school officials in their caution with respect to the collection of data," Education Commissioner Angela Faherty said in a statement.

The data flap comes as Maine school districts are for the first time collecting students' Social Security numbers to add to a statewide database intended to help policymakers track students' progress throughout school and college and into the workplace.

The Department of Education was to collect the Social Security numbers from districts along with a number of other informational items -- including enrollment and special education data -- that it collects on Oct. 1 of each year.

The Department of Education collects the information through its Infinite Campus information portal, the system through which the technology director was able to view the sensitive information.

"We're grateful that the Department of Education has recognized the seriousness of our data security concerns," said Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which has been a vocal opponent of the Social Security number collection. "We continue to believe that there are more effective ways to evaluate student outcomes without violating student privacy."

Since the education department started rolling out information about the Social Security number collection, a number of school boards have passed resolutions opposing it. Under the 2009 law, school districts are required to ask for students' Social Security numbers, but parents can decline to share them.

The Department of Education said the technology director's ability to view staff members' Social Security numbers wasn't connected to the Infinite Campus function that would manage the collection of students' Social Security numbers.

"We want to just provide that added confidence with an independent review so people can remain comfortable that we have a secure system," said David Connerty-Marin, a Department of Education spokesman.

Connerty-Marin said state education officials are advising school districts to hang onto the student Social Security numbers they've already collected until the state is ready to accept them, which is expected to be in a few weeks.

The delay in Social Security number collection announced Tuesday is the second such delay since the law passed in June 2009. The Department of Education last September decided to hold off on the collection one more year to allow schools time to update privacy policies.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com

LINK: http://www.kjonline.com/news/glitch-delays-collection-of-student-social-security-numbers_2010-09-28.html

Maine DOE Acknowledges Error in Infinite Campus

Maine DOE Takes Security Steps

September 28, 2010
Maine Department of Education

David Connerty-Marin | Director of Communications | 207-624-6880 (o) | David.Connerty-Marin@Maine.gov

AUGUSTA – The Maine Department of Education announced today that it is taking several immediate steps to strengthen public confidence in its student and staff data information systems. These include an independent review of the security of these systems, and a decision to delay submission of student Social Security numbers to the state until after they have had a chance to review the security report.

The steps are being taken as the voluntary collection of student Social Security numbers has become controversial in some Maine communities as privacy advocates have expressed concerns about the security of the information and because the Department learned in the past few days of an error within a secondary data system not connected to the collection of student information. The error, which was discovered and immediately fixed, affected information in the Staff Module of the State Edition of the Infinite Campus information system, and allowed authorized users of the system to see information there that should have been restricted. The Staff Module is separate from all other modules in the database and is in the final stages of development and not scheduled to be used for staff data collection until the Fall of 2011.

“The Department of Education will release the findings of the independent review, with specific recommendations for how to proceed in the most secure way,” said Education Commissioner Angela Faherty. It is anticipated the review will be completed in the next several weeks.

The error that was discovered on Friday was found by a technology director for a Maine school system, whose job duties include managing student and staff data in Infinite Campus. The technology director informed the Department that he was able to view Social Security numbers for some school staff in other school systems in the state. The Department was able to identify the problem that day and immediately restrict access to the information.

The Department immediately put in place the following changes:

1. The Department has turned off the synchronization function in the Infinite Campus District Edition so that no locally-entered data can be shared with or viewed by the state or any other user. In addition, we will also delete any student Social Security numbers that have been entered or uploaded into the State system as a result of synchronization so far this year.
2. At the Department’s request, the State’s Office of Information Technology will immediately engage an outside contractor to conduct an independent security review to verify the integrity of the state’s Staff Module where the error occurred, and to further verify that the student data system is secure.
3. The Department will delay collection of student Social Security numbers at this time as part of the October 1 data collection. Districts will be provided a software script that allows them to upload student enrollment data without Social Security numbers. Districts should continue to securely hold the Social Security number data they have already collected for later submission.

“We deeply appreciate that this technology director immediately recognized the issue and called the Department to inform us of the error and it was resolved immediately,” Faherty said. “The Department takes the security of private information seriously, and supports school boards, parents and school officials in their caution with respect to the collection of data.”

Only people with authorized access to Infinite Campus had access to the system, and the Staff Module of the Infinite Campus State Edition is separate from all other modules in the database. The staff module is in the final stages of development and not scheduled to be used by the state for staff data collection until the Fall of 2011.

LINK: http://mobile.maine.gov/e/news/?sid=133822

Maine investigates data security breach

Posted: September 29
Updated: Today at 11:30 PM 

The Department of Education asks schools to withhold student Social Security numbers after a glitch is found.

By Matthew Stone mstone@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Education is telling school districts not to submit students' Social Security numbers to a state database until it works out a system error that gave a school technology director access to restricted information.

The department said Tuesday that it is deleting from its systems students' Social Security numbers that have been submitted and ordering an outside review of the security of its data collection systems.

On Friday, a technology director for a Maine school district reported being able to see the Social Security numbers of staff members in other districts.

State officials say they immediately found the problem and addressed it, restricting access to the staff members' Social Security information. They still plan to hire a contractor to determine how the private information became available and how to prevent future data breaches, the department said.

"The department takes the security of private information seriously, and supports school boards, parents and school officials in their caution with respect to the collection of data," Education Commissioner Angela Faherty said in a prepared statement.

For the first time, Maine school districts are collecting students' Social Security numbers for a statewide database intended to help policy makers track students' progress throughout school and college and into the workplace.

The Department of Education was to collect the Social Security numbers from districts along with other informational items – including enrollment and special education data – that it collects on Oct. 1 of each year.

The department collects the information through its Infinite Campus information portal, the system through which the technology director was able to view the sensitive information.

"We're grateful that the Department of Education has recognized the seriousness of our data security concerns," said Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which has been a vocal opponent of the Social Security number collection. "We continue to believe that there are more effective ways to evaluate student outcomes without violating student privacy."

Since the Department of Education started rolling out information about the Social Security number collection, a number of school boards have passed resolutions opposing it. Under the 2009 law, school districts are required to ask for students' Social Security numbers, but parents can decline to provide them.

The Department of Education said the technology director's ability to view staff members' Social Security numbers wasn't connected to the Infinite Campus function that would manage the collection of students' Social Security numbers.

David Connerty-Marin, a Department of Education spokesman, said state officials are advising school districts to hang on to the students' Social Security numbers they have already collected until the state is ready to accept them, which is expected to be in a few weeks.

The delay announced Tuesday is the second such delay since the law was passed in June 2009. In September of 2009, the Department of Education decided to hold off on the collection one more year to give schools time to update privacy policies.

LINK: http://www.pressherald.com/news/state-investigates-data-security-breach_2010-09-29.html

Infinite Campus Loses Another Account Representative

Checking in to the Infinite Campus sales web page today reveals that the company has apparently lost another sales representative: the person who used to cover the Northwest, northern Midwest, Central East and parts of the south. Now the company map indicates that no individual is handling accounts in this territory.  Instead, states that used to be covered by the former rep are marked with a generic "Infinite Campus" indicator.  It will be interesting to see if the company can find another salesperson from a competitor to cover the vast, vacant territory.

Meanwhile, the company has outsourced more areas to resellers.  Today, it appears from their map that the company is leaning on four different resellers to handle more than 20 states.

LINK: http://www.infinitecampus.com/pages/company_menu/sales.php

Schools in Maine Unable to Enroll Students into Infinite Campus

Due to technical issues with Infinite Campus, the Department understands that the local schools have not been able to enroll students the past few weeks.  However, to be able to meet statutory deadlines critical to the calculation of State subsidy, it is important to adhere to these annual due dates.  Currently, approximately 70% of a school administrative unit’s subsidy is directly related to student enrollments.  We encourage the schools to make enrollment a priority in order to meet these deadlines.

LINK: http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=edu_letters&id=130605&v=article

"We've had IC two years now and we call it Infinite Crapus."

Hate it! 08-28-2010, 04:28 AM Run, run, run! We'v'e had IC two years now and we call it Infinite Crapus. It's horrible for flex grouping because it's a pain to change kids from class to class, when you get new students in you can't put them at the end of the list so it screws up your grades if you transfer from a hard copy gradebook. EVERY year we have to go in and do all this setup on Lessonplanner to allow it to do numeric grades and then we always get the "list". They send out a list of all the people who've done it wrong - of course there's no way of knowing if it's right or wrong until the "higher ups" actually start running the report cards. Last year I got a student in from Mexico after the first 9 weeks so of course there were no grades for her. At the end of the year they couldn't run the end of year grades without something in the spot for the first 9 weeks, so I was told to just make up something and put it there. This came from central office admin!!!!!   READ MORE: http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?p=2012289

So far I’m not impressed with Infinite Campus…

Infinite Campus

So far I’m not impressed with Infinite Campus…

I know, the school year hasn’t even started, and there probably isn’t much data in it yet, and the fact that they misplaced my daughter, and had someone completely unrelated to my family associated with my account (somehow living in my house, with my mobile phone number) is all probably the fault of some human rather than the system itself…

I’m interested to know how much Infinite Campus costs. From my preliminary research, it looks to be expensive. Really expensive. REALLY REALLY expensive. Aren’t there open source alternatives to these things? I mean, it’s not like there’s a need for software like this… it’s only the educational market, how big can that be? I probably wouldn’t mind having my tax dollars used for the development of open source software that pretty much every school district could have the option to use to manage things…

Obviously I’ve not seen the back end of this thing… If it makes life easier for the teachers and administration, that’s a good thing… My opinion is only that of a user. A user who has about 15 minutes of using it. So far… I’m not impressed, but I’ll keep an eye on it. It seems to work for other schools. Maybe it’ll just take time. Hopefully I won’t have to fix things myself like I did with WebGrader.

LINK: http://rasterweb.net/raster/2010/08/20/infinite-campus/

Maine DOE Places Hold on Contract with Infinite Campus

Special Education Data Collection Software

INFORMATIONAL LETTER: 13
POLICY CODE: JF/KLL

TO: Superintendents of Schools, Directors of Career and Technical Education Regions
FROM: Angela Faherty, Ph.D., Acting Commissioner
DATE: August 16, 2010
SUBJECT: Special Education Data Collection Software

This letter serves as clarification of the Department’s progress toward providing Special Education software for all units to aid in collecting and reporting of Special Education data. This software will not be available in time for the upcoming 2010-2011 school year. It is recommended that all units continue collecting and reporting Special Education information as they have done in the past.

Last spring, we attempted to contract with Infinite Campus to provide the same Special Education functionality that they provide as part of Infinite Campus District Edition (ICDE) to all Maine schools. At the time, Infinite Campus was to provide a fully functional version for the Department to preview and test the first week of June. As of this letter, they have not provided test-ready software and the Department has elected to place a hold on the contract until they do so.

Despite the need and desire for this software in the units, we feel that providing untested software would merely add to the units’ burden. Even if the software became available immediately, there would not be time to adequately test the software or train the field staff before the start of the new school year.

The Department remains committed to providing a highly functional, easy-to-use tool to aid all units in the collection and reporting of Special Education information. Unfortunately, it will not be available this Fall. We will keep you apprised of any further developments on the availability of the software.

Link: http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=edu_letters&id=123051&v=article

Is Kentucky Considering Dropping Infinite Campus?

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION directing a comparative study of the STIDistrict and Infinite Campus information management systems.



WHEREAS, accurate data is critical for policy-making, budgetary planning, and program management and improvement; and



WHEREAS, an educational information management system should provide a seamless methodology for collecting the data needed by the local school district, the state, and the federal government; and



WHEREAS, an educational information management system should provide the highest levels of security for the data collected; and



WHEREAS, an educational information management system should generate timely data in a manner that is functional, efficient, and user-friendly and eliminates redundancy for all users of the system; and



WHEREAS, an educational information management system purchased for use in the Commonwealth should be cost-effective and include the training and other supports needed by system users; and



WHEREAS, selected pilot districts in Kentucky testing the Infinite Campus information management system have repeatedly expressed frustration utilizing Infinite Campus in comparison with their experience with the STIDistrict information management system;



NOW, THEREFORE,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Senate concurring therein:



Section 1. Staff of the Legislative Research Commission shall conduct a study of the STIDistrict and the Infinite Campus information management systems in order to ascertain the relative merits and costs associated with implementing each system.



Section 2. The designated staff shall coordinate the collection of information from the Department of Education, local school districts, information management system vendors, and other sources necessary for completion of the study.



Section 3. At a minimum, the study report shall include:
(1) A comparison of the similarities and differences between the features and capabilities of the STIDistrict and Infinite Campus information management systems. This comparison shall specifically reference utility and efficiency in collecting data necessary for district, state, and federal program reporting;



(2) A statement of the total cost projections for the phase-in of the Infinite Campus, including the cost of training;



(3) A projection of the comparative costs for fully implementing the STIDistrict or the Infinite Campus information management systems with equivalent features;



(4) A list of which states use STIDistrict or Infinite Campus for information management;



(5) A summary of the perceived benefits and challenges of each system collected from a sampling of Kentucky users; and



(6) Recommendations for consideration by the Department of Education that relate to improving assistance to local districts in the implementation of contracted educational information management systems.



Section 4. The study shall be completed by October 1, 2009, with a written report presented to the Interim Joint Committee on Education by November 1, 2009.



Section 5. Provisions of this Resolution to the contrary notwithstanding, the Legislative Research Commission shall have the authority to alternatively assign the duties identified herein to an interim joint committee or subcommittee thereof, and to designate a study completion date.



LINK: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/RECORD/09RS/HC125/bill.doc

Midnight robo-calls from Sequoia school district irk parents

By Shaun Bishop

Daily News Staff Writer

Posted: 08/05/2010 03:00:00 AM PDT

Updated: 08/05/2010 12:18:34 PM PDT

When he got an automated phone call from the school district just after midnight Monday, a parent of two students at Carlmont High School thought it was just a strange but isolated mistake.

Then then he got the same robo-call from the Sequoia Union High School District the following day, again right around midnight. That was perplexing, thought the parent, who asked that his name not be published.

"To me it's incredible," he said Wednesday afternoon. "Eight thousand (students') homes got called two nights in a row at midnight. There must be zombies out there. I know I'm a zombie."

District officials still aren't clear exactly how it happened, but acknowledged that the first test of a new high-tech automated phone system went very badly.

And it got the district's new superintendent scrambling to apologize.

"I am so deeply sorry that an automated call from the district went out again late last night," Superintendent Jim Lianides wrote in e-mails to parents Wednesday morning on behalf of the district, which fielded hundreds of calls. "We have been in contact with our host software vendor since early this morning trying to identify where communication broke down. ... Please accept my sincere apology for last night's call. You have my personal assurances that this will not happen again."

District officials tried to use the new system from Minnesota-based Infinite Campus to send a phone message at 3:30 p.m. Monday to alert

parents about training for a new online registration system, said district spokeswoman Bettylu Smith.

But for some reason the system started dialing every household in the 8,700-student district at midnight on Monday instead, Smith said. The district contacted the vendor, which thought it had deleted the message and resolved the issue, Smith said. But the same call went out again Tuesday at midnight.

On Wednesday, the district told Infinite Campus to shut down the automated calling feature. And the company made pinpointing the cause of the problem its "highest priority," said Kim Schroeder, Infinite Campus' director of marketing.

"We regret this error and we're trying to do everything we can so it doesn't occur again," Schroeder said.

Though the district was swamped with calls from students' parents, most were "incredibly gracious and understanding," Smith said.

Schroeder said Infinite Campus, which has been serving 1,900 districts across the country since April 2009, has never before experienced the midnight calling problem.

Besides the robo-call function, the Infinite Campus system offers the district online registration, online posting of grades and homework assignments, and a messaging function for communicating with teachers.

The Palo Alto Unified School District bought the same system from Infinite Campus and is getting ready to test the automated function next week, Director of Technology Ann Dunkin said.

"We want to find out quickly what's happened because we don't want to have this happen again in another district, and definitely not again for the poor parents of Sequoia Union," Schroeder said.

LINK: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_15683940?source=rss&nclick_check=1

Some teachers are taking as long as a month to post these grades, for both homework and tests.

Why grade today what you can put off ’til tomorrow?

With the 2010 school year starting to wrap up, grades are getting more and more important. Students try to keep their grades up to finish the year strong, but there’s a slight problem with this strategy.May 5, 2010 • Molly White, Reporter   

Many teachers are putting up their grades extremely slowly, and are causing stress to some students.

The reason for installing infinite campus in the first place was to help teachers keep track of students’ grades and make them known.

Some teachers are taking as long as a month to post these grades, for both homework and tests.

At the beginning of the year this wasn’t as big of a problem because there were always opportunities to raise a bad test score with homework or quizzes.

Now, with the school year coming to a close, students are desperate to find out which vocabulary quiz they missed, what homework assignment they forgot to turn in and what else they could possibly do to raise that B+ to an A-.

Not like it’d matter.

Whenever students ask for an extra assignment just to obtain a few more bonus points, the answer is always no.

“I don’t believe in extra credit,” they say.

Really? When did extra credit become a religion? I think, then, that it’s time for the teacher’s to convert. After all, part of it is their fault.

Students receive so much homework at the end of the year that they have to choose the class that they need the points most in and do that as top priority.

Now, if teachers would’ve had all their grades up in the first place, students would know exactly what they needed.

Another pet peeve of mine is how a teacher reacts when a student accidentally misses a quiz due to a sickness or being out of town.

How the situation usually ends:

“Mr. Teacher, I just saw on infinite campus that I missed a quiz about a month ago. When can I make it up?”

“Well Johnny Jr., I’m sorry but the deadline for grades was yesterday, so it’s too late now.”

“But Mr. Teacher, how could I have known that I missed the quiz and make it up on time if you added the grade to infinite campus right on deadline day?”

“Sorry Johnny, you just need to know when you miss something.”

Awkward silence. Student walks away in disbelief.

This situation could have been easily avoided if the teacher would have just put the grades online with enough time for the student to do something about it.

After all, a teacher’s main goal is to aid their students on the road to success, right?

It’s time they start showing that they care, and truly help students in getting the grade they deserve.

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Link: http://lhsimage.com/opinions/2010/05/05/why-grade-today-what-you-can-put-off-til-tomorrow/