By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Students in the Alabaster City School System will have school-based email accounts for the upcoming academic year, according to the system’s technology coordinator.

During a May 25 meeting, ACS Technology Coordinator Anthony Kingston said the school system recently finished setting up an email system for all students in the system.

Although the email system is already in place, most students will not have access to their accounts until the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. When students return to school, they will receive instructions and log-in information for their email addresses, Kingston said.

“We did a pilot program with some students this semester, and everything worked great,” Kingston said. “It will be implemented in the fall for all students”

Kingston said the student email accounts will be accessible from anywhere, but will operate on an intranet system, meaning ACS will be able to monitor student usage.

With the new email system will also come updated email addresses using an “@ACSboe.org” tagline for students and teachers, as opposed to the current “@alabastercityschools.org” format.

Kingston said multiple local school systems, such as Shelby County Schools and Hoover City Schools already use a similar email setup, and said the system has been successful.

In addition to allowing teachers and students to more easily communicate, the email systems will allow students to access online school resources, Kingston said.