Like many schools affected by Hurricane Katrina, we'll be opening our doors again shortly. We're very interested in how other schools are addressing the unique situations caused by Katrina. For example: * How are you recording credit and grade information for students in classes that are not being offered post-Katrina? * What attendance codes are you using for absences caused by Katrina? * If students are attending another school temporarily and then returning to your school, will you expect a transcript from the school? Will you record grades received at the other school as if they were awarded at your school? * Have you added a new student status (such as On Hold) to designate students that aren’t returning to your school at this time but will in the future? * Are you changing your academic year setup and schedules to reflect more school days per week and longer periods? Are you using another program to document these changes so you can easily return to the original setup? All feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much! Michelle Snow Technology Specialist St. Martin's Episcopal School Metairie, LA 504-736-9981

Hi Michelle! I'm replying to your post about Katrina disaster recovery for your school. I work for a small independent school in Charleston, SC. We actually have a little boy attending our school for probably the rest of the school year who was displaced from his New Orleans home and school by Katrina. Right now, he is enrolled in all of our classes just like any of our other students. I would imagine that many students will probably fulfill the rest of the academic year at their new schools, simply to avoid too much change in a single year. I will be able to send a report card or transcript of the little boy's work here back to his old school whenever they ask for it, so they can track his grades any way they want. Some suggestions would be for them to track it under "other school courses", assuming they use EE, or to simply count the grades as pertaining to the classes at which he was enrolled in his own school. If you want to edit your academic year to perhaps lengthen the school year, do it sooner rather than later. It's tricky to edit an academic year or term which is already in session. Finally, you may want to consider having a certain status which can be put on your student records to reflect students who are enrolled at your school, but are currently studying elsewhere. They can have that status as long as they remain at their new school, and can be switched back to Enrolled or Current Student when they return. This will help you in being able to query on who is actually attending your school, and who is somewhere else. I hope this has been at least a little bit of helpful information. I wish you all the best of luck in your recovery. If there's anything I can do, feel free to e-mail me at [Email Removed]. Thanks! Leah Soltis