Parents, Educators Make New Connection With the Internet

While parents of an earlier time expressed their views about the local schools in the ballot box or by picking up the telephone, today's parents have a powerful new weapon: the Internet.

In Wauwatosa, Wis., in Palo Alto, Calif., and dozens of other school districts, parents are using the massive computer network to dig for data, shape public opinion, forge alliances, broadcast information, and tap expertise from beyond the local community.

For these citizens, often from upscale communities, the utility of the Internet goes much further than the cafeteria menus, messages from the superintendent, and sports and meeting schedules featured on most school sites on...