New Requirement Pushes Oak Park Teachers Online

The days of sending home a printed newsletter to parents is now obsolete in Oak Park.

Teachers must now communicate through blogs, wiki pages, online surveys and more. This year will be the first that all teachers are required to have some online presence.

It's part of an initiative pushed by District 97 Superintendent Al Roberts that aims to use technology to keep parents more informed.

“Keeping [the sites] updated ... is an important component of keeping [parents] engaged,” said Chris Jasculca, director of policy, planning and communication for the district.

In August, the district launched a revamped website with links to individual school pages, an online calendar, searchable staff directory and an interactive district map. The redesign also includes links to an individual school's roster of teacher pages.

While many teachers already had web pages, the new sites are designed to be more consistent and easy to find (although some teachers still just post a link to their old webpage on the new one). Teachers who didn’t have web pages last year received training over the summer and are expected to have active sites as the fall semester unfolds.

Parents can also follow District 97 on Twitter.

Elyse Smith, a kindergarten teacher at , converted her previous website into the district’s new format. She said she's been receiving positive feedback from parents who say the new site is "just as informative but easier to user."

A majority of teachers use the page as a newsletter to keep parents and students informed, Smith said.

Smith got started early this summer, recording her voice along with posting her picture so that her students could get familiar with her before the first day of class. She's also had students fill out an online survey so she could get to know them before the school year started.

All teacher pages now offer links for assignments, and photos and videos as well. Teachers in upper grade levels likely have more work than Smith, she conceded, since they will have more daily homework to list.

A third grade teacher at Irving School, Nick Sakellaris, listed the classroom rules on his page.

One advantage to the uniform use of the web sites versus sending out paper newsletters is that it fits with the district’s push for , noted Smith.

She now offers hard copies only upon request.