Parents can view students’ library books on Skyward

by Katie Barton|Editor-In-Chief

Parents now have the ability to view the books their children check out from the school library on Skyward.

“In the Skyward the family account, up in the top left there’s three little lines,” Librarian Haley Schmidt said. “Click on those, then you click on family and then it says library check out history.”

The ability to view what books their children check out from the library has always been available, but now instead of requesting it parents an easily view it from Skyward.

“They’ve always had the right to find out what their child checks out the library,” principal Gary Comalander said. “It’s just never been accessible on Skyward until this summer.”

So far the new feature has not seemed to effect the amount of books students have checked out from the library.

“We’ve checked out over a thousand books since school started,” Schmidt said. “I haven’t seen any change in our checking out history or habits.”

Though the additions might help planets feel more informed, not all students agree that  the feature’s addition is a good thing.

“Kids should choose if they want, maybe toggle it on their own personal Skyward account,” senior Whitney Henning said. “Giving parents too much control can be really detrimental cause they don’t understand that there are boundaries.” 

Henning feels that it might lead to more negative outcomes than positive, particularly in regards to student privacy.

“If children don’t feel safe with their parents reading what they have been looking at, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Henning said.

While students might not view this as fair, parents have always had the ability to view the things their students buy or check out on campus.

“It’s very similar to your lunch account [your] parent can go on Skyward and see exactly what you eat piece by piece,” Comalander said. “Just like your grades, like anything that happens in class, attendance, a parent has the right to that because it’s an educational record.”

 

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