On what seemed like a long weekend for everyone else at John Paul II, the teachers were actually at the school! Over the course of two days, the teachers learned about the new PowerSchool program, as well as attended a faith in-service.
PowerSchool is a student information system that covers student registration, and it's also a grade book for students and parents to view online. Before the school decided to use PowerSchool, they used a program called HomeLogic. HomeLogic wasn't meeting the present and future needs for the administration.
Shaun Loeppky, a member of the John Paul II staff, gave a presentation Oct. 24 to all the staff in the division to review PowerTeacher24. PowerTeacher is a program for teachers whereby they can enter information about students, and enter marks in an online grade book.
David Weber, the students' information consultant, gave a presentation on report cards and how they have changed, as well as how to finalize the first report card for the end of this term of the school year. "Overall, PowerSchool continues to give an open portal for parents to view their children's marks and attendance." said Loeppky.
The next day the staff of John Paul II attended a faith in-service at St. Joseph's Calasanctius Church. The day began with a mass and then the staff headed over to St. Joseph's Hall for the actual in-service, run by Andrea Mackrell, John Paul II's chaplain. The main focus of the in-service was stewardship, which the staff has already explored for a year and will be continuing to do for another year to come.
"We are looking at how we can become stewards of God, and what it means for us." said Mackrell. The staff believes that it is important for everyone to explore their faith and to find ways in which they can live out their faith. It is important to do this as a staff, to reunite, re-ignite and to reflect on God's word. Overall, the day was an amazing experience for the teachers.
As one can see, on the two days that seemed to be a vacation for everyone at John Paul II, the teachers were actually hard at work.
