OCI Solutions. Inc. develops Internet system for No Child Left Behind Act.

Company develops school-to-parent Internet software

As reported in The Batavia Republican, Thursday, July 24th:

Company develops school-to-parent Internet software

By Eric Walter
Staff writer

Joe O'Sullivan and Dennis Maty know what parents go through when dealing with schools. Being parents themselves, the Internet technology consultants realized there could be an easier way to communicate with schools: Using the Internet.

While many schools maintain Web sites, parents and students can encounter problems, such as servers going down during non-school hours, Maty said.

Maty experienced that problem when his son's English teacher said her assignments would be posted on the school's Web site on a Friday and the server was down all weekend. "We thought, 'How can we help communication between teachers and parents?'" he said. That helped spawn a software program O'Sullivan and Maty, who co-founded Batavia-based OCI Solutions Inc. in September 1999, say will help school districts nationwide meet educational standards imposed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Signed into law by President George W. Bush Jan. 8, 2002, No Child Left Behind sets up a number of requirements, including increasing communication between parents and teachers and incorporating technology into schools, according to the U.S. Department of Education's No Child Left Behind Web site.

"That's exactly what we do," said Maty.

The two consultants created SchoolMailbag, a push-content service software program designed to facilitate the exchange of information between schools, teachers, parents and students, he said. The service, provided through OCI's servers, sends out information being shared between users, which is why it is called "push technology," said O'Sullivan. Information such as calendars, class schedules and notes from teachers are sent out through the service, O'Sullivan said.

"It pushes the information out that a teacher puts in," he said.

If families do not have access to the Internet, schools will have the option of having a toll-free number for parents to call and access information through a text-to-voice application, said O'Sullivan. OCI has begun marketing its SchoolMailbag service and has received inquiries from four states in the Midwest, O'Sullivan said.

O'Sullivan and Maty are waiting for a response from the state of Illinois. With the help of state Rep. Richard Bradley (D-District 40) of Chicago, the company's software was presented to Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office, said O'Sullivan.

Bradley is eager to see the program put into action, saying OCI's software was "exactly what the governor" talked about during the education portion of his State of the State Address in March. Blagojevich could direct the state Board of Education to review the service for use in school districts across the state, but the state board would have the final say on whether to implement it.

"I hope the state would consider implementing this," said Bradley.

O'Sullivan said local school districts could apply for federal funding under the No Child Left Behind Act, which would mean the service would come at almost no cost to taxpayers.

OCI charges school districts on an annual basis, based upon the number of schools, not the number of students, added O'Sullivan.

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