Lately, a popular topic of discussion for parents, students, and teachers has been PowerSchool, the software platform for the district’s gradebooks. PowerSchool, a system used by many schools, updates grades and attendance in real time. Most students and their parents have the PowerSchool app, which notifies them right away when a grade changes or a class is missed. Some think that children and parents are obsessed with PowerSchool and that it is causing problems, which is why the district has recently made changes that will limit access to PowerSchool at certain times of the day.

A few plans were discussed to solve this issue, but the district decided to close PowerSchool during the school day so that it cannot be checked while students are in school. This began the day after spring break, Thursday, April 8, and will be in place for the rest of the year. Principal Joe Rainis said, “PowerSchool is an excellent tool, and having it open is very nice. We’ve discovered, however, that it’s an obsession for many students with how often they check it, and it has become a distraction. We decided that after April break, it would be closed during school hours, from 7:30 to 4:00. This is so that during the school day, students can be focused on their classes and not worry about notifications from grades. Then, after school, the grades that teachers have put in will be available. Access to PowerSchool is a great thing, and we’re not denying that, we just don’t want it to be a distraction.”

Laurie Mitchell, guidance department chairperson, said, “I think it’s going to be helpful, and it’s a start. As a kid, we only got mailed report cards every so often, and there was still anxiety with that because there’s just generally a level of anxiety for everyone with receiving grades. With having PowerSchool and getting notifications constantly, it’s like having report card day all the time, every day, and it can become very stressful.” Freshman Victoria Medina said, “I think I’ll be able to deal with it as long as we still have access after school and on weekends.”

Many argue that PowerSchool is a helpful tool that enables students and parents to monitor progress in school. It helps students keep track of missed assignments and lets them know when their averages drop or improve. The portal also lets parents know if their kids are skipping classes or not handing in things that are due. People are worried that if PowerSchool is not open as often, they will not be able to keep track of grades as easily.

Many also think that being able to get constant updates on PowerSchool is negatively affecting students. Rainis claimed, “From Sept. 1 to Mar. 27, PowerSchool had been accessed by parents 158,743 times, and by students 36,037 times, for a total of 194,780 logins.” Guidance counselors also claim that students have come to them about how much stress PowerSchool is causing them. Mitchell said, “What I’ve been seeing is that everyone is so electronically connected, and they can’t get away from it. Even walking in the hallways, they’re looking at their phones and getting notifications about their grades, and parents are texting them about the information that they’re seeing. Some classes have electronics in them too, and when kids are sitting in class, they’ll see notifications coming in, and it’s a distraction because they have emotional responses to these grades. People are so connected, whether it be with social media or things like PowerSchool, and they’re always looking for updates. The danger with that is if a kid gets a bad grade, he/ she needs to be able to take a step back, say that wasn’t his/her best, and take time to get back to higher grades. If you’re constantly getting grades and worrying about every little grade you receive, you never get an opportunity to recover and breathe.”

Students obsessively check the app to see new grades and averages. This causes students stress and has been said to have the potential to lead to psychological issues. Often, the moment a student sees a grade that does not seem right, he/she immediately goes to his/her teacher to ask him/her to change it, which also causes stress for teachers. Kevin Tranchina, a science teacher, said, “I know that for a lot of students, stress comes from knowing that they could get a grade alert with bad news at any moment. There’s no reason students should have to, or need to, deal with that, so closing [PowerSchool] during the day or week sounds like a solid plan to me. It will also directly correspond to fewer students bugging me about grades they shouldn’t have to worry about in the first place. It’s really a win-win.” Many parents also frantically check the app, and when they see bad grades, they often text their children. Overall, teachers and parents are hopeful that limiting access to PowerSchool will help children be less obsessive and stressed about their grades.