NEWBURYPORT — While teens and 20-somethings have Facebook, parents in the city may soon have an online community of their own.

SchoolPulse, a Web site created by Newburyport resident Preston Carey and Concord resident John Boynton is an online community and social networking site, where everything from school lunch menus to the best music teachers is listed.

"We wanted to create a Web site where parents can go to share ideas and debate," chief executive officer Boynton said.

"Right now there is a group of parents outside of the school who talk or parents talk on the sidelines of soccer games," said Carey, chief operating officer.

Boynton most recently served as president of an investment firm, and Carey was senior manager at a management consulting firm. Both have taken on SchoolPulse as a full-time venture.

The two founders, both parents with young children, say the appeal of the site is to busy parents. The site gives them a chance to post messages and have a say in their children's education, even though they may not be able to attend School Committee meetings or certain events.

"It is a place to talk about the issues affecting the schools," Boynton said. "If you ask parents what their priorities are, education is always at the top."

SchoolPulse is organized by local schools within a district and can reflect what each district needs and wants to place online.

"In the pilot districts, we will be working to get the site just right," Boynton said. "It is heavily driven by what people want and need."

With calendars; a bulletin board for posting forms, files and fliers; a place to get advice from other parents; and even space to upload photos and videos, the site aims to streamline information parents need to know.

The focus is on making daily off-line life easier to manage, rather than developing a broad-based virtual community online, Carey said.

"The site is so easy to use that even the mom who just uses e-mail and doesn't use (networking sites) can use this," Carey said. "There is a generation of parents who use the Internet and computers and went to online baby sites before they had their children. Parents expect this in schools."

While parents expect a place to be able to easily access information, schools may worry the site could turn into a place to rant and bad-mouth teachers. But the founders have thought that out as well.

"Schools may not welcome scrutiny from parents," Boynton said. "We have guidelines to ensure the site is more of a public meeting."

The site requires people to post under their first and last names and to post constructive information. Anything derogatory will be filtered.

"We want to feel that parents are being informed and have a voice," Boynton said. "Studies show parents who are involved in their children's education have children with better success in their education."

Already in use in the Concord Carlisle school district in both the middle and high schools, Boynton and Carey have been experiencing success and hope to pilot the program in Newburyport along with two or three other communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut by the end of the school year. By next fall, they hope the program is rolled out nationally.

On the Concord Carlisle Web site, members of the School Committee have posted to weigh in about issues facing teacher contracts, and Carey said recent Newburyport School Committee topics, such as athletic fees would have lent themselves to SchoolPulse.

But in a world of online networks, some may worry the online community may replace volunteerism and parents getting physically involved in the schools.

Carey said SchoolPulse does just the opposite.

"SchoolPulse makes parents aware of topics and makes them more likely to stop into meetings or to weigh in," Carey said. "We are not trying to create a virtual world but a tool to create a better world off-line for parents and better educational outcomes."