PowerScheduler: K-12 same site, different build/loads?

[kmarquez1]

Hi everyone,

This will be my first time doing PowerScheduler. I am at a k-12 site that is sectioned off by elementary, middle, and high school. I am going to do the middle school schedule.

Ideally, I would like PowerScheduler to build and load the master schedule for 6-8 and input the 6-8 students into those classes without effecting the k-5, 9-12 students (through the use of preferences/constraints/etc.). I am fine with waiting to do my part last if need be. 

Is there any way to do this? I tried looking up guides but they all seem outdated and offer options that don't exist (at least in my version). I really want to be careful to not mess up what the other two people are doing.

Thanks in advance!

[JeffG9]

Are the buildings separate in PowerSchool? 

[kmarquez1]

They are not. If I set them as separate buildings, can I run it just for a specific building? Does it cost extra to list different buildings?

[JeffG9]

PowerScheduler is building-specific, so you could have a K-5 PS "Building", a 6-8 PS "Building," and a 9-12 PS "Building," even if you have one physical K-12 brick-and-mortar site. You would need to check with your State/Province Reporting requirements about splitting buildings in PS (for example, in New York, we have something called a BEDS Code for buildings. NYSED will allow the same BEDS code for virtual buildings in PS so districts can split the building by grade level so things are easier in cases exactly like this). 

I don't work with pricing/sales, but as I understand PowerSchool prices by number of students, so I do not imagine additional buildings in PS would cost you any money.

This is a bit of a lift, so you will want to take it slow and perhaps not split all of your buildings until next year.  

If you wanted to Build certain classes i suppose you could uncheck Schedule This Course on all the K-5 courses and 9-12 courses--but that would be very tricky. 

You can certainly Load a selection of students (such as your 6-8 kids), but where it may get tricky is in the Periods, Cycle Days, and Bell Schedules. You can only have one Bell Schedule per calendar day in PowerSchool, so unless your K-12 schedules are all the same "shape" (such as 9 40-minute periods) you may have to get creative. 

You could simply copy the Master Schedule into PowerScheduler, do a Load-Only this year and then do all the planning/setup to split your buildings next year. 

Scheduling is so unique to each site that it is difficult to discuss in a Forum post.