Online School Management Systems, or, will you ever talk to your kid's teacher in person again?

As you know, I'm quite interested in the intersection between technology and education: what are the positives?  what are the negatives?  I recently read an article that highlights how the same technology can be both good and bad.

In the WSJ last week (sorry, I am perpetually behind the times), there was an article about how schools are increasingly using online tools to communicate with parents and students - grades, class info, contact information, and upcoming events are increasingly being communicated via online platforms accessible to parents and students.  Picture a facebook page for your kid's classroom - events, other participants, and specific information about how your kid is doing.  You can check out the article here. 

So, the upside, in this increasingly digital world, you can use these systems to (a) communicate with your kid's teacher more regularly - no more waiting for a parent-teacher conference to address a concern, (b) monitor your kid's homework/grades, so that you can intervene if something's going off track, and (c) be able to communicate with other parents.  I certainly know how hard it is to keep in touch with your kid's teachers, and more ways to do it seems better than the alternative.  Working parents may rarely actually see their kid's teachers, and being able to stay in the loop via emails is nice. 

But...on the other hand, is this just another piece of technology that's going to get lost in the noise of all the emails/facebooks/other sites we deal with on a daily basis?  One mom in the article basically abstained from the online school platform, saying it was just one thing too many to deal with.  (I understand that too!  I have, at last count, 7 email accounts).  And despite our texting/virtual world, there is still something to in-person conversations, and building actual personal connections with the people that your child spends the most time with.

And, just to throw another iron into the fire, are these online school systems accessible to people with disabilities?  Recall earlier conversations on this point, on accessibility of digital educational materials and accessibility of communication systems.  If a student is blind, or has vision difficulties, are these online school systems accessible to screen readers?  And what about the parents?  What if a parent is deaf, blind, or has another disability where using online systems requires alternative technologies (like screen readers, or switch systems).  Hmmmm?

I don't have an answer, and I'd be happy to hear what your experiences are with these portals.  Honestly, these systems aren't going away - but we do need to make sure that they are appropriate to all students and their families.