DrupalEd Distribution

Hi everyone,
this post is meant for Bill of course, but anyone willing to answer is more then welcome. As part of a project for implementing a service to several secondary schools we tested Drupaled for a while. We are now in the process to prepare a version to be distributed as version 0 (the schools will work with similar navigation schemes, templates and compulsory contents managed individually). The pilot version is based on Drupaled 5.6. I was wondering about the upgrade to version 6. Will it be possible to upgrade the school sites later from 5.6 to 6? What steps are to be foreseen?

What would be a recommended approach for giving parents a view of their kid(s) work? Ideally, when a parent logs in, they would see the names of their kids throughout the school system. When they select one of their kids, they would see what assignments they have due, their current grades in their class(es), attendance record and any notes from the teacher that relate to the class or specifically to the child (i.e. "Billy is doing great on his math homework.")

Firstly, a mega-thanks to the people who have taken DrupaEd so far already.

It was a snap to install and configure, and includes a heap of "quick-start" features.

DrupaEd is already a mix of modules and content, so why not take it further?

I'm posting this to the group to provoke some thought.

Here are some features on my wish list:

A school (email) newsletter (Simple News for example) for distribution to anyone who subscribes (either public or member).

Check it out here: http://drupaled.alphabetademo.org

The site can function as a blogging platform, a podcasting platform, a wiki, an informal learning space, a course management space, and/or as a replacement for an organizational intranet. Within the site, users can create working groups or communities of practice. The site also supports social bookmarking. The homepage of the site gives a more complete overview of the functionality.

On the basis of some of the comments in this thread, here are some thoughts about a first iteration:

All development here assumes development in 5.0 -- this means that some of the modules will need to be updated to 5.0 if they are not already there.

There are three types of functionality to consider for the initial distribution:

1. The public facing school web site
2. Classes; ie, the classes of an entire school in a single install
3. Student and teacher work areas -- this can be considered a PLE, but it will allow the learner-controlled space to exist alongside the more structured course area.