The MAISD PowerSchool Support Team has created this new 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.

This tool allows you to search for active and inactive students at another building to make sure the student you are trying to enroll doesn’t have a historical record already.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Using District Search

This new tool in PowerSchool adds a quick way to find students and edit attendance just for today. It works great for entering excused absences left by parents or for entering absences when students come into the office late.

You can use the district of residence field to search for students that live out of the district to make sure you have all of them recorded correctly. To do this you will need to know your district code, you can see it at the end of your district in the district of residence list. Then you can run a search like this DistrictOfResidence != 61010 and it will return all students who are not in your district.

School-Level

• Check Student Programs, such as Early College
• Enable access to the Parent Portal
• Review Bell Schedules
• Set up Final Grade/Reporting Terms
• Update Students' Activities
• Verify Current Grade Display
• Verify School Calendar
• Verify Term Dates

District-Level

• Enable access to the Parent Portal
• Update GPA Calculation Methods

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

Heidi Strong, SIS Helpdesk

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