The week before finals at the end of first semester, SIS gradebook, the Mehlville School District’s online gradebook which is similar to an online progress report, was shut down to student and parent viewing. A notice at the bottom of the page informed parents and students that they would not be able to view grades until Jan. 8, after teachers had finished entering semester one grades. This first-time occurrence for students and parents angered many and was unfair to frequent SIS-checkers and students concerned with their final grades.

With no warning, students were suddenly blocked from viewing their grades just before finals. Personally, I check my grades on SIS every day, and shutting this feature down without a heads up was extremely inconvenient. I was left stressing about what I had to earn on each of my finals to maintain grades. Over winter break, students could not log in to find out how well they performed on finals or what their semester grades would be. Even when they returned to school, SIS gradebook was still offline until the Tuesday after we returned, Jan. 8. Yet when students checked on Jan. 8, during the day and after school, the gradebook was still not available for viewing. Until Jan. 9, I could not see my semester grades.

Teachers and administration have made it clear that students and parents constantly checking SIS can bog down the system, especially when teachers are inputting grades. However, in all four years of high school, SIS has never been shut down to me around the ends of the semesters. Also, students have become accustomed to checking their grades because teachers encourage it. If students ask to see their grades in classes, teachers will tell them to check SIS on their home computers.

Shutting down the online gradebook at an important point in the semester for students was an extreme inconvenience. Students were left stressed before finals because they did not know how well they had to perform to maintain their good grades, and they felt the same after finals and during winter break because they could not check their final test grades. The least the administration could have done was offer a warning to students to allow them to check it before we were blocked. They also could have offered one day over break where students could log in and check their grades because it is unlikely that teachers needed the whole break to access SIS. The situation only resulted in stressed out and angry students and parents.