SURRAnet ONLINE INTERFACE

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UPDATE 12/07/2007 - SURRAnet is in the final stages of deployment. The goal is to have SURRAnet up and running this weekend, most likely Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon. Check this message for updates. Also read Mr. Surran's blog for further details.

NOTE - SURRAnet 2.0 is very advanced and requires a modern browser (Internet Explorer 6.n or greater, FireFox, Safari, etc.) to work properly.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is SURRAnet?

SURRAnet is a student database program that tracks a variety of data that allows the administration, teachers, parents, and the student to track his / her performance at school. SURRAnet offers a number of tools to the GHCA faculty, including computerized gradebooks, attendance records, discipline records, the ability to print report cards, and more. The Student Profile is the student's and parent's access point to SURRAnet.

Why is it called SURRAnet?

SURRAnet is developed and maintained by our network administrator and computer science teacher, Michael Surran. Mr. Surran has done the vast majority of this development on his own time, and as such retains the copyright to the software. This software package will soon be released under an open source license to other schools that are interested in it.

Is my child's information safe online?

The information accessible online is protected by username, a strong password, and encryption technology. This means that only those who have access to a specific username / password pair can access that student's profile. More importantly, the actual database itself is stored on a secure server that is not directly connected to the Internet. What you see online is a copy of summary data such as grade averages, attendance totals, etc. No sensitive information (addresses, phone numbers, etc.) is stored online.

How up-to-date is the information?

Any changes that are made to the database (new grades recorded, discipline infractions, etc.) are uploaded to our webserver twice a week. Teachers are encouraged to keep grades up-to-date on a weekly basis, though the grades posted usually lag about a week due to the time required to score papers, tests, etc. Sometimes a teacher's other responsibilities will cause her to fall behind in entering grades into our database, therefore each course lists an Updated date which shows when grades were last entered for each subject. It is also important to know that some subjects (particularly practicums and certain electives) are graded only at the end of a quarter and thus won't change online on a week-to-week basis. If you have any questions concerning a particular subject, please set up an appointment with the teacher of that subject.

How accurate is the information?

While the information provided by this service will usually be quite accurate, GHCA makes no guarantee that the information online will be mistake-free. Many teachers take extra time at the end of each quarter to double-check the database against their books, enter makeup work and redos, and record extra credit, all which can cause the final average recorded on the report card to vary quite a bit from the last online update.

It is important to understand that at the beginning of a new quarter, the quarter average is based on only a small number of assignments, and therefore may not accurately represent the student's actual level of comprehension. As the quarter progresses and more individual grades are averaged in, the quarter average will better reflect the student's performance in that class.

Why is the lower elementary excluded from this service?

SURRAnet was written primarily with high school requirements in mind, and while it does scale well with upper elementary, our lower elementary school is using a radically different grading system that is not compatible with SURRAnet.

I think I found a bug - what do I do?

SURRAnet is currently beta software, meaning it is being tested by the teachers and now you. This means it is quite likely a bug or two will pop up from time to time. If you find a bug, send me an email at webmaster@ghca.com with "Bug found in SURRAnet" in the subject line. Be thorough in your description of the problem, and I'll fix it as soon as I can.