Report cards to be delivered electronically

By Lynsi Musselman

Albany Independent School District will deliver electronic report cards only, starting with the end of this upcoming six weeks on Thursday, Oct. 1.

The online report cards will be made available through the Ascender Parent Portal program using the primary parent’s account.

AISD director of student services Leigh Lowe said this change will be new to everyone this first six weeks, and there will be a learning curve.

Lowe added the time of day when the grades will be available online will vary.

The back side of the system that sends the information to AISD to send out report cards is also all online and uploads for thousands of schools across the state, all on the same day.

“The option for additional parents to set up a parent portal to receive the report card electronically is available,” Lowe explained. “If parents need a copy of their student’s report card printed, then the office will offer that service on a case by case basis.”

Lowe said that the decision to move to electronic delivery only is a combination of wanting to reduce the number of people handling a document, as well as the amount of money that will be saved on printing.

Parents who need help with their Parent Portal ID and log in can e-mail lowe@albany.esc14.net.

Lowe said the secondary campus will also be moving to a new communication system called Messenger where students and parents will receive campus information such as bad weather blasts.

“Eventually the entire district will be on the same system, but there is an overlap in contracts,” Lowe explained.

Secondary campus principal Glen Hill said the plan is for the secondary campus to make the switch from Remind to Messenger soon, but the company is still completing data import on their side. 

Hill explained that the new communication system will sync with the information that parents used for registration.

“Families will not receive notifications if we do not have a correct phone number,” Hill said.

The school’s website www.albanyisd.net has instructions on how to update phone numbers and other information that needs to be changed.

Currently, the elementary campus uses Bloomz as its communication platform.

Lowe reminds families that all information is posted on the district’s Facebook page and the school’s website.