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Question: How do I distinguish between O's and 0's, 1's and I's?

Answer: If your logon contains an O or 0 (oh or zero) or a 1 or I (one or "eye"), it can be easy to enter the wrong letter. Notice that O's are wider than zeroes, and one's and I's are different on the top.

Also, please note that logons and password are not case sensitive. Caps and lower case can be ignored.

Question: Whom should I call if I have a question?

 Answer: Please use the table below to decide whom to contact for various types of questions.

Answer: Students and parents will receive their logins and passwords approximately 2 weeks after the beginning of school each year and will be free to access the site at that time. Of course, grade and attendance information will appear only during and for a time after each grading period. At any time, parents can contact the attendance office to get a fresh copy of logins and passwords. Access will not be available from the end of summer school until 2 weeks after the start of each fall semester.

Answer: Yes. 

Question: What is PowerSchool?

 Answer: PowerSchool is a typical student information system in that it allows us to manage a wide range of information, including the following: grades, attendance, tests, demographics, activities, courses, and photos. Because the program has been designed using modern software tools, it also allows us to connect parents and students to information. We hope the powerful communications features of the program are helpful to parents and to students who are striving to learn and exceed their dreams.

Question: How often can we expect grades to be updated?

Answer: There are many factors that determine how soon a teacher can assess and return assignments. Essays and research papers take longer to grade than a quiz. Coaching, club sponsorships, and family commitments can also affect turnaround time, as well as a teacher's student load, which may be as high as 180 students for teachers with overloads. We encourage staff to post grades every 2 weeks at the minimum, and we urge students and parents to be patient as teachers do their best to return assignments and post grades as promptly as their schedule allows.

Question: How often can we expect attendance to be updated?

Answer: Except for teachers who instruct in multiple classrooms, in gyms, or outdoors, faculty do their best to record attendance by the end of every period. Those whose schedules prohibit period-by-period recording input their attendance according to the following schedule: by noon and 3:00 p.m. Faculty enter present, tardy, or absent .

The attendance office also enters a wide range of attendance codes, as they receive information from parents, the library, and other school locations where attendance is monitored. 

Question: Do all teachers use the same grading scales?

Answer: All faculty follow the grading policy adopted by the Board of Education in June, 2004. View policy (MS Word)

Question: What is required to connect to the PowerSchool server?

Answer: Users need the following to connect:

• A computer with a connection to the Internet

• Internet Explorer 5.01or Netscape 5.0 or more recent (i.e.,a browser capable of 128-bit encryption)

• A login and password, to be supplied by Warren

Question: What can I see on the PowerSchool site?

Answer: Parents and students can access the following information on the PowerSchool public site: http://powerschool.wths.net  

• Grades for current classes, as well as the assignments that make up those grades

• Attendance for the past two weeks or for the whole quarter, including a legend of attendance codes used by the school

• Teacher comments

• Reports via Email, which allow parents to request daily, weekly, or monthly reports to be sent via email

• The courses your student selects during the winter/spring course selection process

• Other features (currently not in use)—School Bulletin and Meal Balances

View screen captures of the pages described above.

Question: Can other people see my son’s/daughter’s grades?

Answer: As long as you protect your password, others will not be able to see your information.

Question: What do I do if I forget my PowerSchool password?

 Answer: Call the number listed on the chart above.

Question: Are PowerSchool logins and passwords case sensitive?

 Answer: No. For some logins and passwords, it is hard to know whether to use 0 (zero) or O (capital o, the letter). We recommend that you try both. If you still can't log in, please call 599-4760 (O'Plaine) or 599-4310 (Almond).

Question: How does one get a PowerSchool login and password?

 Answer: The school will send a letter with this information 2 weeks after the start of school, or you may contact the attendance office.

Question: What are the guidelines for acceptable use of Warren’s network resources?

 Answer: The school’s acceptable use policy, which is part of the Student Handbook, is available at the following web address: http://www.wths.net/images/forms/tech/aup.pdf  

Question: I know that teachers sometimes weight different categories of grades. How does this affect how a grade is calculated?

 Answer: Some teachers calculate grades by total points, and others use categories such as tests, quizzes, daily work to organize and give different weights to grades; how teachers weight grades is an individual decision. To understand a specific grade calculation, please contact the individual teacher.

Question: Do students and parents see the same screens/comments?

 Answer: When students and parents access the PowerSchool server, they see the same information with one exception; parents have the ability to request automatic progress reports via email.

Answer: With one previous upgrade, PowerSchool's ability to encrypt logins increased, which helps protect users' privacy. Unfortunately, this encryption can cause login problems on Internet Explorer. The following list has allowed users to get around this issue, which will be corrected in a future upgrade to the program.

1. If your logon contains an O or 0 (oh or zero) or a 1 or I (one or "eye"), it can be easy to enter the wrong letter. Notice that O's are wider than zeroes, and one's and I's are different on the top.

2. Switch to Netscape as your web browser. In general, Internet Explorer has been the better choice, but for this problem, Netscape is working better. The latest version is available at http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/default.jsp 

 

3. Update Internet Explorer to the latest version at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/Browse.aspx?displaylang=en&categoryid=6 

 

4. Reset Cache in Internet Explorer

*In Internet Explorer, Navigate to Tools -> Internet Options -> Temporary Internet Files
*Click Delete Cookies
*Click Delete Files -> Check Delete All Offline Content -> OK
*Click Settings -> Every visit to the page -> OK

*Set the "Amount of Disk Space to use: to 0 MB

 5. Bypass Proxy Server (for some work environments, you will want to consult with your system administrator before changing this setting).

*Open an Internet Explorer Browser and go to Tools > Internet Options
*In the Internet Options window, choose the Connections tab.
*Choose LAN Settings.
*Choose the Advanced button next to your proxy server address.
*If the checkbox next to "Use a proxy server for your LAN" is checked, continue to step
*If the checkbox next to "Use a proxy server for your LAN" is NOT checked there is no need to bypass the proxy server. This option is not necessary.

6.  *Go to the Exceptions section of the Advanced settings window.
*Enter the IP address or the URL of your PowerSchool server.
*Click OK.

This will allow users to access PowerSchool while bypassing the proxy server.

This page, last updated on 10/06/08, has been visited times since December 2, 2002.