Back to school tech talk: Chatham County schools shift to digital report cards

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System is moving report cards online this year, giving families digital access to current and past academic records.

Heather Ditommaso, the district’s senior director of student information systems, said parents will be able to access past report cards and progress reports alongside quarterly report cards through the new online system.

“It was time for us to evolve and the world of paper is going away,” Ditommaso said. “By having report cards electronically, not only can a parent pull up their current report card — we won’t have to send those home — we don’t have to worry about report cards never making it to the parents, so it just gives everything at their fingertips.”

Paper report cards will remain available for parents who need them.

Partnership drives technology rollout

Kimberly Rhodes, the district’s executive director of business information systems, said a partnership between the technology and academic departments is what allows changes like these to happen smoothly.

“We make sure that number one it’s safe for our students, we protect our data, and we are not doing anything to stop the instructional process,” Rhodes said.

District monitoring artificial intelligence

The tech team is also responsible for maintaining safeguards to protect student data. Rhodes said artificial intelligence is among the areas the district is actively monitoring.

“That is something that’s being looked at and that’s something that we monitor on a regular basis because it’s here, and it’s not going away,” Rhodes said.

Last year, the district implemented the AI chatbot system “Let’s Talk.” Officials said they will continue evaluating improvements and other ways to incorporate new technology.