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Back-to-School-Night Leaves DeMatha Parents Content With Academic Expectations

An online academic portal draws conflict among parents, teachers and administrators.

It was Tuesday night at DeMatha High School. Behind a classroom desks sat a distinct, older generation from the one that daily occupies the halls and classrooms of this all-boy, private Catholic institution.

Although strictly attentive, it is a generation that had a lot to learn.

DeMatha's Back-to-School Night was organized to share with the parents of tenth-, eleventh- and twelfth-graders an abbreviated experience of their sons' everyday schedule.

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"I want to meet the teachers because I want them to remember my face," said Millie West-Wiggins, grandmother of a ninth-grader and a tenth-grader.

Josh Chase Harris, who teaches the classes Sacred Scripture and the Search for God, emphasized the importance of teacher-parent relationship that prevents parents from being "detached."

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"Parents might have a different sentiment about the teacher than their sons," he said. "It is important that they are involved and they meet people who see their sons through a different perspective."   

As West-Wiggins sat behind her school desk listening to the expectations of Harris' Sacred Scripture class her tenth-grader grandson Malik is taking this year, she came to a conclusion.

"Though a little challenging, this class is going to be a good class," she said. "But life is a challenge and it is the best to get him prepared for it here."

Although the night was spent mostly with parents and grandparents getting to know the school, there was some debate of whether or not teachers should be required to provide open access to Edline, DeMatha's online academic portal.

Principal Daniel J. McMahon plans to bring an official Edline access policy in October, he said.

"There is a lot of internal debate of whether to open Edline to everyone or not," he said. "We don't want to cut the students out of the equation and at the same time we need students and parents to talk to each other."

DeMatha's Edline provides parental access to their sons' class policy sheets, syllabi and quarterly, exam and semester grades. It also gives authority to teachers to decide how much additional information they are willing to disclose, said Christopher Benedick, a teacher of astronomy, honors and AP physics, and AP calculus.

For Kathy and Jim Belka, the parents of a senior lacrosse and soccer player, open access to Edline is a necessity that bridges the cap of an unsuccessful and deconstructive parent-child communication. In the case of their son Ryan, who misses a lot of classes due to athletic events, it is a great way "to keep up with his academics," they say.

"We absolutely should have an open access to Edline, especially when you have kids who are not vocal and don't communicate with their parents," Kathy Belka said.

And as far as his classes are concerned, Benedick says he is not willing to disclose any more than required.

"I'm opposed to it," he said. "I see that as another task. A lot of this comes from the pressure from the parents and that might be the only reason for this discussion."

Kelly Lama, Chair of DeMatha's Mathematics Department, called the need for a wide-open parental access to the online portal "unhealthy" and against DeMatha's principle of responsibility teaching.

"It's about teaching boys responsibility to communicate with their parents and finding a happy balance of what to disclose, and how frequently," he said.

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