MAISD PowerSchool

The MAISD PowerSchool Support Team has created this email newsletter to keep our district contacts and stakeholders updated on current needs, future updates, and tips and tricks to make using PowerSchool more convenient and effective.

Please let us know someone else should receive this newsletter by emailing Joel Selby at jselby@muskegonisd.org.

We're finalizing a new plugin that will give staff the ability to see the details for a pending transfer, as well as the ability to cancel it. Here is a screenshot of this feature from our development server:

We're working on adding more helpful text reminders throughout PowerSchool. Here are a few examples coming down the pipeline at the moment:

• Adding an explanation of how the "Default Term Between School Years" option works.
• A quick summary of Parent/Student Portal statuses across buildings on the District Setup > Miscellaneous screen has been added.
• The Parent/Student Portal settings page at the building level will now tell you when the portals are disabled at the district level.
• You'll now see a note when editing a section if there are any attendance records that will prevent you from making changes to the Period or Term. It will also indicate if there are any tied to dropped class enrollments.
• When editing a Course, you'll have an option to see detailed information about the SCED code that was chosen.

• Your term dates and final grade/reporting term dates for this year were set up last Spring. Please review dates and make sure they're correct. If you need to make any adjustments, please submit a MAISD Helpdesk ticket so we can adjust things and make sure your enrollments stay connected properly.

Report Cleanup

Over the summer, we completed a project to clean up unused reports, mailing labels, and more across all of our PowerSchool servers. Over 500 reports were marked inactive in total.

PowerSchool Update

We recently updated our PowerSchool servers to version 23.10. We are planning to deploy the new User Interface system after winter break. Districts may choose to enable this change early or late, but all districts will be using the new User Interface after spring break.

New Staff

Be sure to notify the PowerSchool Team when new staff members are hired. New staff will be given a PowerSchool Training account and assigned the appropriate learning path. Learning paths include online courses relevant to the job the staff member will be performing. This will provide a foundation of PowerSchool knowledge. Once the online training has been completed, we suggest scheduling a one-on-one in person or virtual training with a PowerSchool team member to answer any questions and provide further instruction.

Ongoing Training

The PowerSchool Team is available to provide training to staff on an as needed basis. Please contact us to schedule training.

Throughout the School Year

The PowerSchool Team holds annual training sessions throughout the school year for elementary scheduling, beginning of the year, end of the year, and PowerSchool 101. Please contact the PowerSchool Team for dates and times. Training dates are also published in this newsletter.

• SWIS Integration - Allows log entries in PowerSchool to be sent to SWIS.
• Enrollment/Registration - Online enrollment, yearly forms and demographic info update within the Parent Portal.
• Chronic Absenteeism - Allows districts to quickly view students who have met attendance thresholds, generate attendance letters en masse, track parent meetings, and generate reports as needed.
• Accommodation Log - Allows teachers to enter accommodations offered (accepted and refused) for students with an IEP or 504 plan. The data is stored, reportable, and accessible to parents.
• Other - Chromebook Tracking, 31a Reporting, Online Report Cards, among others.

The PowerSchool Team can create automated jobs that integrate the flow of data between PowerSchool and third party software applications, removing the need to compile data and upload it manually.

The PowerSchool Team can write a variety of reports, including data reports, detail reports, analytical reports, and student performance reports (report cards, progress reports, transcripts).

Day to day support, secondary scheduling, standards support, and all things related to PowerSchool!

Submit a PowerSchool Helpdesk Ticket

Bill Smith, SIS Support Specialist

Joel Selby, SIS Support Specialist

Keith Jelinek, SIS Support Specialist

Heidi Strong, SIS Helpdesk

Website: https://www.muskegonisd.org/techservices/ps/
Location: 630 Harvey Street, Muskegon, MI, USA
Phone: (231) 767-0414