Start of the School Year Review of Setups

This topic outlines a recommended procedure for reviewing setups and procedures for the start of the school year. This process is typically completed after summer school sessions but prior to the first day of a new school year.

1. Check that marking period dates are entered for each building on the Marking Periods page (Administration > Registration Setup > Calendars > Marking Periods), and check that each building has a default calendar selected on its Building Definition page (Administration > Registration Setup > Building > Building Definition). The default calendar may need to change for buildings that run summer school in a regular year building.
2. If any PLUS 360 or SIF processing options were disabled for the summer, they should be turned back on.
3. If any notifications were disabled for the summer, they should be activated on the District Notifications page (Administration > General Setup > PLUS 360 Notifications > District Notifications) or, if they were disabled at the building level, on the Building Notifications page (Administration > General Setup > PLUS 360 Notifications > Building Notifications).
4. School staff should be reminded to recreate any scheduled tasks they need run on a regular basis, such as day total or interval total calculations.
5. When creating next-year environments on the Scheduling Building Configuration page (Administration > Scheduling Setup > Setup > Scheduling Building Configuration), many buildings change the Default Add Date of the Student Schedules panel to a specific date or first day in student calendar for new course records. When school has started, you may want to change the field back to T - Today, N - Tomorrow, or X - None.
6. Review the Add Date Check field on the Scheduling Building Configuration page (Administration > Scheduling Setup > Setup > Scheduling Building Configuration). Once the school year has started, you may want to set it to R - Required or W- Warn so that all schedule add dates are using membership days from the building's calendar.
7. Review drop and add rules with counseling staff and others involved in making schedule changes and make any necessary changes on the Student Schedules panel of the on the Scheduling Building Configuration page (Administration > Scheduling Setup > Setup > Scheduling Building Configuration). Remember that add and drop dates affect attendance and gradebook, while report card processing is affected by the fields that determine how marks are assigned when a student drops or adds a course within a specified number of calendar days after the course or marking period start date.
8. Check the current report card run on the MR Building Configuration page (Administration > Mark Reporting Setup > Setup > MR Building Configuration) for each building to be sure it is set appropriately for the start of school.
9. If any pieces of Home Access Center were disabled for the summer, such as the ability to view schedules, enable them on the HAC Building Configuration page (Administration > HAC Setup > Setup > HAC Building Configuration) for each building.
10. Finally, if you do need additional assistance, you can contact PowerSchool Professional Services to schedule time with a consultant.