[acs] Parental Access - how to deliver usernames and passwords securely

[GBDerby]

Hello everyone,

 

I was just wondering if any of you could let me know how you go about passing onto parents and contacts their usernames and passwords.

 

I don't want to post them or sent them home with students etc so is it just a case of having them come in on say parents evening and then getting them to sign to say they have received the details?

 

Any thoughts appreciated

[zag]

We use TASC insight and can email or SMS the passwords automatically.

 

The password it sends is temporary so they change it themselves on first login.

 

Never had one incident of security with 1,400 logins.

[Oaktech]

I believe we sms them via teachers 2 parents, and if people complain they haven't received them then we create a slip and ask them to come in via whatever means they communicated that they hadn't got the details!

[Sylv3r]

We issued usernames and passwords very two seperate letters.

 

The initial letter was posted and the password letter we via 'pupil post' taken home by the students, the first letter told the parents to expect the second letter via their child and if it didn't arrive to contact the school directly for their password.

[michael2k6]

Lots of schools deal with this very differently to the above. We find that the most successful projects in terms of engagements are staged roll outs based on year groups, with workshops / demo to parents to show what the software can offer to them and how they can use it to benefit their child. If you're doing that, the best thing to do is give the details out at that session, ask them to bring ID. If you're expecting more than 80 parents in one shot, sort people by name - be sure everyone knows whether it's the surname of the student or surname of the contact, and then have a table for A - D surnames, E - L surnames, etc. It sounds long and drawn out, but the whole reason you're doing this is presumably to increase parental engagement, the extra effort at this stage goes a long way. I've seen it done also where parents are then given the oportunity to log in, in a workshop environment and any issues can be sorted out there and then.

 

If you're not going through that method, or you've already done all of that and this is more of a question about how do you send out resets, or setup new users, offer a similar service (presumably by SLT or pastoral rather than a techie job) or post out by two seperate letters. In the first letter state that the second letter is on its way - what you don't want is the students finding the letters.

 

Mic @ Serco

 

 

The above post is my own and does not represent the opinion or views of my employer or those associated with them.

[michael2k6]

Ah- I almost forgot, it's a good way also of knowing who's actually interested at this stage, rather than just knowing who 'can' log in.

[GBDerby]

Thanks for these, the school is not happy to send out text messages or letters with the info in so I think we are going to have to get parents in to do workshops, I'm wary of leaving it till Parents Evenings as some are not until later next year. Forgotten passwords isn't something I've thought about so I'll get a plan for that in place as well. Thanks for all your help

[number34]

Like Zag we also use TASC Insight and email the instructions to the parent who is priority 1 in SIMS. We use the email address for the parent as the logon id and there is a simple to use password reminder facility on the login page. In the three years we have been using it there have been no problems. Edited October 18, 2012 by number34
missed word

[splattthecat]

The school my Daughter has just started started off by sending home a data collection sheet to make sure student and contact info is up to date. This was followed up with a parental access letter which included a user name, with an email address to reply to (from the parental contact mailbox given on the data collection sheet) requesting access. Once this was sent back the password was emailed back to me.

[Disaster]

We use TASC insight and can email or SMS the passwords automatically.

 

The password it sends is temporary so they change it themselves on first login.

 

Never had one incident of security with 1,400 logins.

 

Sorry to drag up old thread, but do you have it setup so they can reset their password automatically also?

 

Cheers

[zag]

Sorry to drag up old thread, but do you have it setup so they can reset their password automatically also?

 

Cheers

 

Yes, thats a standard feature of Insight I believe.

[Disaster]

It is indeed, but we get a relay error, so something is up with Exchange not allowing it....

[zag]

It is indeed, but we get a relay error, so something is up with Exchange not allowing it....

 

We just route it though a school gmail account and it works fine. There is no real need to use your internal exchange server.