PowerSchool gives parents access

Parents can now access grades and attendance records of their students via the internet by going to the Williams Unified School District’s website, wusd.powerschool.com.

“We’ve used PowerSchool for a year now but we never gave parents access,” said Kate Wamble, PowerSchool administrator for Williams Unified School District. “This year we felt we are ready to do it.

“PowerSchool is an internet-based student information system.”

Each day the website is updated when teachers enter grades, and the schools enter attendance.

“Parents can go on the internet to a secure website and with their own ID and password, check on their kids,” Wamble said. “It’s secure and confidential. They can only see their students’ information.”

The address for the website has thrown a few parents for a loop.

“You don’t type the www — you just type in the address of the website,” Wamble said.

With PowerSchool parents can check attendance, current grades and schedules.

“This is real time,” Wamble said. “If a teacher enters a grade, it will update it on the website. And if you click on the percentage, it lists all the assignments.

“Parents can use this as a way to get a better understanding to why the student has the grade.”

From the same screen parents can also e-mail the teacher directly.

“They can also view attendance records so they know if their student is absent or tardy,” Wamble said. “There are lots of things they can view. However, there are some options that are not available at this time.”

For parents who don’t have internet access, there are public computer labs in town.

“If parents don’t have a computer at home they can come to the open lab or head to the library,” Wamble said.

Eventually PowerSchool will include school menus, sports and other upcoming events.

“Open lab (and computer workshops) will be offered on Monday and Wednesday starting at 4:30 p.m. and running until the end of the workshop (which will normally be 2 hours),” said Gabi Uebel, technology director for the district. “You need not attend a class to come to open lab. Computers will be available for you to use and technicians will be available for PC repair.”

The workshops are free of charge.

“They are being offered as part of our community computer literacy program,” Uebel said. “Classes will begin at 5:30 and are approximately two hours long.”

Space for the computer workshops, which will be held in the vocational building on the high school campus, is limited.

“Please check our website at www.wusd2.org for the most current schedule,” said Uebel.

The school district has two websites — one for school and teacher information and schedules (www.wusd2.org ) and one for student information (wusd.powerschool.com).

The following is a list of the workshops available:

Oct. 17 — Intro to computers/Windows *

Oct. 22 — Intro to internet/e-mail *

Oct. 24 — Intro to PowerSchool *

Oct. 29 — Intermediate level – Windows

Oct. 31 — No class or open lab

Nov. 5 — Intro to Word

Nov. 7 — Intro to internet/e-mail *

Nov. 12 — Intermediate level - Windows

Nov. 14 — Intermediate level - internet/e-mail

Nov. 19 — How to build a simple website

Nov.21 — No class or open lab

Nov. 26 — Intro to internet/e-mail

Nov. 28 — Intro to PowerPoint

Dec. 3 — Intermediate level - PowerPoint

Dec. 5 — Intro to Excel

Dec. 10 — Intermediate level - Excel

Dec. 12 — How to build a simple website

*Available in Spanish.

To sign up for any workshop, call 635-4428 extension 307. To get answers to PowerSchool questions, call Wamble at 635-4474 or e-mail her at: Powerschool@wusd2.org.