Opening of School Information

Opening of School Information and Items to Check
Posted on 09/02/2020 at 12:15

Please see the below regarding opening of school information, and items to check in PowerSchool.

  • Opening of School Guide for Power Users: To assist schools with PowerSchool opening of school tasks, IT has created a job aid of important items to check before and after the first day of school.
  • InfoSnap New Student Online Enrollment: For schools with boundaries, continue to monitor the submission workspace in InfoSnap, and work with parents to process the records in a timely manner. A significant number of applications remain in pending status in InfoSnap.
  • Deleting Sections Procedure: Changes have been made in PowerSchool to allow schools to delete a class section if there are no students scheduled into the class. Please follow the steps below to delete a section from the master schedule:
    1. Withdraw all students from the section. Please make sure students are withdrawn with an Exit Date which matches the Entry Date for the class.
    2. If all students have been withdrawn from the class, your school Power User will be able to delete the section from PowerSchool.
    3. In cases where a Power User is not able to delete the section from PowerSchool, contact the Help Desk to request assistance with removing the section from your master schedule. Please ensure the following information is provided in the request: School, Course Number, Section Number, Teacher. Please also confirm with the Help Desk that students have been withdrawn from the class.
  • Current Grade Display and Quick Lookup Preferences: Check Current Grade Display and Quick Lookup Preferences, under School Setup. These settings control what is shown in the Parent Portal as well as on the Quick Lookup page.
  • Portal Access Report: For schools using the PowerSchool Parent Portal, run the Portal Access for Parents and Students report. This report lists active students at your school and indicates whether parent portal and student portal access is enabled. To run this report, select System Reports, select the sqlReports tab, and then expand the group of Enrollment reports.
  • Enrollment Form updates: It is extremely important that student demographic data is current and up to date in PowerSchool. As 2020-21 enrollment forms are received and entered in PowerSchool, be mindful of completeness, and ensure questions are updated where parents can ‘Opt Out’, give consent, or require a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ response.
  • Updated Handbooks and Job Aids: Please be sure to check for updated PowerSchool Handbooks and Job Aids.
  • PowerSchool Training: Check Professional Learning for upcoming Virtual PowerSchool Training and Open Labs.
  • Access in PowerSchool: Review staff who have access to your school in PowerSchool. Remove teachers who are no longer at your school. Review and adjust permissions for staff at your school, as needed. Schools are responsible for maintaining permissions for users at their site. The following two reports will assist your school with reviewing access. For additional instructions, please refer to the System Administration for Power Users Handbook.
    • PowerSchool Administrator access at your school – To run this report, select System Reports, select the sqlReports tab, and then expand the group of Staff reports.
    • PowerTeacher access at your school – To run this report, select System Reports, select the sqlReports tab, and then expand the group of Staff reports.
  • Incomplete Enrollments report: Run this report daily the first couple of weeks of school, when the enrollment volume is high. Then run once a month to validate that no one at your site has started an enrollment and not completed it. To run this report select System Reports, sqlReports tab, and then expand the group of Enrollment reports. If the student is a no show, you must complete the Student Demographics page first, then drop the student as a No-Show. You may also contact the Help Desk to have them dropped.
  • Missing Home Language Survey: Run the Missing Home Language Survey report to identify students at your school where the Home Language Survey needs to be entered. To run this report, select System Reports, select the sqlReports tab, and then expand the group of Enrollment reports.
  • Verification of SSID report: Run this report to find students missing an SSID. Verify information is correctly entered on the Demographics page for Questions 45 or 46. To run this report select System Reports, sqlReports tab, and then expand the group of Enrollment reports.
  • ZZTeachers: Check that all temporary ZZTeacher entries in your master schedule are updated to a known instructor by October 2, 2020. Please see the Opening of School Guide, page 42, for further instructions regarding ZZTeachers. This task is critical for schools to complete in order for your school and the district to meet state reporting requirements.