The Nov. 6 meeting of the Cranston Education Advisory Board (CEAB) was one that has become an annual tradition: the fall ASPEN training session. The meeting was held at Park View Middle School and offered a pre-meeting session at 6:30 p.m. for those who were specifically in need of help with passwords and logins so that they could participate in the full session at 7 p.m.

The training was given by Park View Middle School faculty members Rob Rasmussem and Pete Guyon, both of whom assisted parents in seeing ASPEN and all its capabilities for parents, for students and for teachers. Although the program has been used district-wide for several years now, it has become more widely used in the most recent years and continues to offer parents a way to stay up-to-date on their child’s education, whether it’s seeing attendance, assignments, test scores or final grades. The program also offers parents the opportunity to see school-specific pages, such as a scholarship or student council page, for example, and allows them to feel more connected in to the school community.

In addition to the ASPEN training, an additional computer resource was introduced to parents as well: the tutor.com/cranston website which is available to all Cranston Public School students who possess a Cranston Public Library card. The tutoring sessions are free, are offered in all subjects for grades kindergarten through grade 12 and are available from 2-10 p.m. Guyon gave an overview of the features and benefits of that site.

In addition to the two computer trainings, both Jeff Gale and Joe Rotz gave their monthly updates on behalf of the school committee and central office, respectively. Gale spoke more on the topic of the district lunch policy, which had been raised at last month’s meeting by the Superintendent. This most recent meeting had approximately two dozen people in attendance.

“The superintendent has given CEAB a charge of helping the district figure out ways to recover the money owed,” Gale said.  “The sub-committee will be meeting to brainstorm creative ideas of how we can help recover this money so we can use it to fund vital programs in Cranston schools."

In a statement sent to the Herald, Rotz said, “Our goal this year is to use our CEAB to communicate district academic, social, and emotional goals more clearly. For example, with the number of parents we have here tonight, it is clear that more training for parents and/or guardians on how to access information through our SIS (Student Information System) system (Aspen) is needed, and we will organize more training in the future. During our meetings we want to provide time to discuss different initiatives and questions the community may have around these initiatives - ultimately we're looking to communicate more effectively and make information more transparent and easier to access." 

The next meeting will take place on Jan. 8, 2018 at 7 p.m. at the New England Laborers’ Cranston Public Schools Construction Career Academy high school. For a schedule of upcoming CEAB meetings, view the calendar at cpsed.net/index.php/parent-and-community-resouces/ceab.