Parent+Portal+Support

PowerSchool@ Westside: View of a parent portal account and the aspects that the parent can control or edit, including the setup and the "how to" we provided to encourage parents to log in to PowerSchool. We will demonstrate how business has changed because of the parent access and ease of communication between parent and teacher. Infinite Campus@ OPS: View of the parent and student login portals, aspects of parent/student access including the processes for communication, verification, and password reset, and navigating troubleshooting issues for portal contacts made in person at the school site, or via email, or via phone.
 * Parent Portal Support:**

Facilitators: Regina Lupo, Omaha Public Schools (regina.lupo@ops.org) Vicki Hoskovec, Millard School District (vlhoskovec@mpsomaha.org) Greg Boettger, Westside Community Schools (gboettger@westside66.org)


 * -- Notes --**

Greg demonstrated the PowerSchool portal. Grades, attendance, announcements, class registration and account balances are the major parts of this. Westside sends parents an access ID when the student is registered. The parent then logs in and creates their own account. Email notification will allow the user to set up email rather than logging into the portal to look at these things. There is no transcript option. Grades and attendance are only for this year. Historical information would require a call to the school. Support: not many calls for forgot passwords. These are handled by secretaries or the PowerSchool support person at the middle and high school. Elementary secretaries may call Greg's office for help if they are unable to help the parent. Westside gives out passwords over the phone. Usually ask a couple of questions. If there are alerts, such as "no parental access", then the information is not given out. Accounts follow the student forever, K-12. Accounts are automatically inactivated when the student leaves the district. Accounts are turned off for the summer and not turned on until the first day of school.

Regina Lupo OPS uses Alteris help desk. The secretary verifies the information and sends a request to the help desk system. The portal help desk team calls the parent to reset the password. If this is a new account, an activation key is emailed to the parent so they can create their own account. Parents who need help must contact their child's school for verification. Then, the school will email the help desk to contact the parent for help. All problems must go through the child's school, which will then email the OPS help desk. All accounts must be created by filling out an agreement form. Portal agreement and the actual portal are available in Spanish as well as English. Only grades 3-12 are required to post grades. OPS is using the fees module. Report cards are not available for viewing, as OPS uses a custom report card. OPS has kiosks, rooms and computer labs open for parents to use if they have problems accessing from home or work.