HOUSTON - The Active Parent website that links the Houston Schools with parents of students is growing in popularity, but some questions have been posed as parents learn to navigate the site. Dr. Leigh Mobley is in charge of the site and welcomes questions to help parents better learn to use the site. She said that several parents have questioned how to access their child's grades.

"This is a question I have talked to several parents about," Mobley said

Under the child's name is a gray bar labeled "Class." Grades from each class will be located on the drop down tab showing each subject, like Reading, Language, Math and Social Studies.

"If you look on the first page, the class listed is Homeroom," Mobley said. "It defaults to the homeroom and your child's grades will never be listed there."

Discipline issues are another question that come up for parents who wish to check on their child's behavior. Under the discipline tab, major infractions only will be posted.

"It is entred every day because it is required to be uploaded to the state department," Mobley said. "But the only discipline that is put into the computer is discipline that is handled in the office. Regular classroom actions will not be on there. It will not tell a parent when their Kindergarten student got their card pulled for talking, etc. In summary, parents should be glad when there is nothing under discipline because it means that their baby has not been to the office."

Mobley said that the volume of grades and homework posted also depends on the students grade level.

"At the Lower Elementary particularly, they will just not have all that many grades to post," Mobley said. "Reading is especially difficult. They just started reading within the last few days and have not posted any grades, I don't think. They do homework sheets to take home and we are in the process of working to figure out the quickest way to post those online."

Several parent training session have been held on the use of the website and Mobley feels that more education is needed to get the information to the community. Dates and times of upcoming workshops will be noted in the newspaper as soon as they are available.

Common questions

Q: How do I get onto the site?

A: Go online to www.houston.k12.ms.us and click the icon for Active Parent in the bottom center of the page. Fill in the blanks, including identification information for your child. Your account will be processed and opened by staff in the Central Office of the district.

Q: When I check under my child's name, I don't see any grades or discipline reports.

A: Look under your child's name to the "Class" bar and pick a subject from the drop down tab. Your child's grades for that subject should be posted in each class.

Q: My child said he got his stick pulled but his discipline report doesn't show anything.

A: Only disciplinary actions that are handled through the Principal's office will be reported on the site. Minor day-to-day classroom infractions will not be posted.

Q: I don't have a computer at home. Can I still use the site??A: Yes. You can set up an account from any computer that has Internet access and check your child's progress the same way. The Houston Carnegie Library has computers open to the public with Internet access.

Q: I don't have an email address.

A: An email address is required to use the site. Several different sites offer email address set up free of charge, like Yahoo.com and Gmail.

Q: Is my child's information available to other people?

A: No. You set up your account with your child's private identification information and set your own user name and password for security purposes.

Q: How do I learn more?

A: Contact Leigh Mobley at lmobley@houston.k12.ms.us or 456-2233.