Introductions
What is the PTO about?
The purpose of the PTO is to help parents talk about their concerns. PTO is meant to provide an interface among administrators, teachers, and families.
PTO:
- Invites teachers to apply for grants and PTO funds what it can
- Oversees scholarships for seniors
- Organizes teacher appreciation (breakfasts for teachers, lunches for teachers, etc.)
The PTO doesn’t have traditional fundraisers. But, PTO did sell shirts at the Open House. Plus, PTO sends out a solicitation letter to receive funds.
Jennifer sends out announcements about each PTO meeting. If you didn’t get an announcement this AM, let Jennifer know and she’ll add you to the list.
Introductory comments from Dr. Irizarry
Welcome and thanks for the great turnout.
Announcement of dates – photos, no school on Labor Day, PSAT testing and senior meeting on Sept 10, etc.
The school is currently working through instructional side of Profile of a Graduate. This new state policy applies primarily to Freshman but has some implications for other CHS students in terms of number of verified credits required.
The PTO influences school decisions. For instance, last year, the school removed deciles because of the PTO efforts. Dr. Irizarry sees PTO as an important organization. The administrators get to share updates out and they also get to hear the concerns of parents.
Today’s Focus: How to use PowerSchool and Canvas. (Eventually, everything will move to Canvas but that’s a process that will take time.) The decision to focus on this emanated from parents’ interest.
This year, topics will include: anxiety and stress among our students and changes in the school as a result of the state-established Profile of the Graduate
Parent Q: Is there a single hub for communication here at CHS?
No. Everything is on the google calendar, as much as possible. But, orchestra will send out some communication. Theater – another set of communication, etc.
Parent Q: What is Profile of a Graduate?
Freshman parents – this is most relevant to you. We will let you know more about the accountability model and the state graduation requirements. Profile of a Graduate is a new set of state guidelines. Bottom line — it involves fewer tests for your students. For instance, we’ll go from 9 to 5 SOLs for your students.
Discussion of Canvas and Power School
Introduction of Ms Burke who used to teach Algebra and is now involved with testing and scholarships, among other activities.
Goal of Today’s Meeting: To help families get on Powerschool and Canvas and see what’s there so they can figure out what to do to support your student.
Canvas champions: Lois Burke, Jess Brantley, Megan Maynard
Power school lead: Dave Durrer
If you have problems with Canvas or PowerSchool, contact them via email.
What is the difference between Power School and Canvas?
Powerschool is a student information system (SIS) that has grades and attendance only. (SIS means that this is the system used to get information conveyed to the state.) Last year, they moved to a year-long grade (instead of grades for each quarter). There’s only one grade per year and that’s it. There are a few reasons for this. It helps with programs that do standards-based grading (focuses on a competency that may be demonstrated at any point in the year), and provides and even distribution of weighting for assessments (every quiz is worth the same of every quiz – all year long).
Canvas has: grades, calendar, content, messaging (private, immediate, through email), a student site (including announcements and information, a school calendar, and student forms). The Canvas grade section has a “what if” section for grades (e.g., you can put in a zero and see what happens at the end of the year). Canvas automatically puts assignments on the Canvas calendar. Students can create a “to do” list on Canvas.
Getting a Canvas Account
You can log in using your child’s Canvas account. Alternatively, you can create a parent account and pair your account to your child’s account.
Steps:
Go to the Cville schools website (and scroll to the bottom to Canvas login for parents or go here: http://charlottesvilleschools.org/canvas/
Either log in with your students’ password or use a student pairing code so that your account gives you access to your students’ account
Consider what notifications you want:
Under account settings (top left): put in the email address that you’d like used for notifications.
Go to notification preferences and indicate when you’d like notifications. You can set it up so you get sent a notification if the score is below a certain level.
Q: How does it work if you have more than one kid?
You should be able to see information for both students.
For the rest of the meetings, families logged into their Canvas accounts and reviewed the materials.
Notes taken by Sara Rimm-Kaufman; srimmkaufman@gmail.com
