Network Wi-Fi changes beginning February 6, 2024

Network changes coming

In an effort to provide a more consistent and responsive network experience for staff and students, starting February 6, the current throttled PCCSK12-Guest network will be decommissioned. It will be replaced by 4 new networks: PCCSK12-VisitorPCCSK12-Guest-BOEPCCSK12-Guest-ESC, and an unthrottled PCCSK12-Guest network. The availability of these networks will vary by time, day, and location.

  • PCCSK12-Visitor will be available for legitimate visitors in school buildings weekdays, between 7 am and 2:30 pm. Account passwords for this network will be changed daily and will be made available to each building’s front office staff through the same method used to share daily sub account information.
  • Unthrottled PCCSK12-Guest will be available for guests in school buildings weekdays, after 2:30 pm and until 7 am the following day, as well as all day on weekends. No credentials will be required; only acceptance of the acceptable use policy.
  • PCCSK12-Guest-BOE will be available 24/7 for guests at the E. J. McCLendon Center. No credentials will be required; only acceptance of the acceptable use policy.
  • PCCSK12-Guest-ESC will be available 24/7 for guests at the Educational Support Center. No credentials will be required; only acceptance of the acceptable use policy.

Students and staff who have hitherto used the PCCSK12-Guest network for personal devices will need to join their respective PCCSK12-Student or PCCSK12-Staff network prior to February 6 to avoid interrupted access. In January, everyone is strongly encouraged to check their personal devices to confirm they are connected to the appropriate network and make adjustments as needed. If students have trouble adding their personal devices to the PCCSK12-Students network, please ask them to contact their school’s technology support team. If staff have trouble adding their personal devices to the PCCSK12-Staff network, please ask them to submit a service ticket.


Please also note, concurrently connected personal devices’ policy change for the PCCSK12-Staff and PCCSK12-Student network is in process:

We are migrating to a network policy where concurrently connected devices using the same network credentials at physically different building locations (for example, PCEP and an elementary or middle school) will trigger curtailed access, due to security concerns. In other words, if someone else is using your district credentials on their device to connect to our network and they are in a different building, your network account will be disabled from continuing to connect personal devices to our network. As a reminder, please only use your credentials on your very own personal devices. Credentials should never be shared. Students with personal devices should never be connected to the PCCSK12-Staff network; if they want to have their personal device on our network, they should connect it to the PCCSK12-Student network. Conversely, staff should not be connecting to the PCCSK12-Student network.

We will also be monitoring how many devices in the same building are concurrently connected to our network using the same network credentials. Presently we reason there should be no more than three (3) concurrent connections in the same building, presuming a staffer may have as many as three devices (eg a watch, a cell phone and a personal computer), all of which they hope to connect to our network. Having more than three devices connected in the same building location may trigger curtailed access, following our review of the use case.

MISTAR-Q: Monarch Registration – Jan 22

Monarch training program

Registration is open for Monarch: Jan 22 through May 13, 2024

Teachers are invited to transform their use of MISTAR by participating in Monarch, an asynchronous free online learning experience. Monarch is especially beneficial for teachers new to MISTAR.

Complete activities designed to increase your skill and knowledge of MISTAR teacher apps including Class Attendance, Grade Book, Seating Chart, generating reports, and more.

Working online at your pace, you will progress through four levels of activities. SCECHs are available: complete levels 1-2 to earn 7 hours, levels 1-3 to earn 11 hours, or levels 1-4 to earn 13 hours.

This course is free. Please register only if you fully intend to participate as there is high demand for this course.

Register here  – After registering, watch for emails with details on how to get started.

Network Wi-Fi changes beginning February 6, 2024

Network changes coming

In an effort to provide a more consistent and responsive network experience for staff and students, starting February 6, the current throttled PCCSK12-Guest network will be decommissioned. It will be replaced by 4 new networks: PCCSK12-Visitor, PCCSK12-Guest-BOE, PCCSK12-Guest-ESC, and an unthrottled PCCSK12-Guest network. The availability of these networks will vary by time, day, and location.

  • PCCSK12-Visitor will be available for legitimate visitors in school buildings weekdays, between 7 am and 2:30 pm. Account passwords for this network will be changed daily and will be made available to each building’s front office staff through the same method used to share daily sub account information.
  • Unthrottled PCCSK12-Guest will be available for guests in school buildings weekdays, after 2:30 pm and until 7 am the following day, as well as all day on weekends. No credentials will be required; only acceptance of the acceptable use policy.
  • PCCSK12-Guest-BOE will be available 24/7 for guests at the E. J. McCLendon Center. No credentials will be required; only acceptance of the acceptable use policy.
  • PCCSK12-Guest-ESC will be available 24/7 for guests at the Educational Support Center. No credentials will be required; only acceptance of the acceptable use policy.

Students and staff who have hitherto used the PCCSK12-Guest network for personal devices will need to join their respective PCCSK12-Student or PCCSK12-Staff network prior to February 6 to avoid interrupted access. In January, everyone is strongly encouraged to check their personal devices to confirm they are connected to the appropriate network and make adjustments as needed. If students have trouble adding their personal devices to the PCCSK12-Students network, please ask them to contact their school’s technology support team. If staff have trouble adding their personal devices to the PCCSK12-Staff network, please ask them to submit a service ticket.

Secure and close down technology for break

Tech break checklist

On FRIDAY before you leave for a well-deserved break…

PLEASE SECURE ALL VALUABLES in the classrooms and office spaces you inhabit. This includes laptops, document cameras, Apple TVs, remotes, and interactive pens.

Further, would you please make sure all iPads and Chromebooks are in their carts and those CARTS ARE LOCKED and plugged in before leaving.

Finally, would you please also POWER OFF any of the following equipment, if it is equipment you handle:

  • projectors
  • sound amps
  • SmartBoards
  • desktop computers
  • monitors
  • printers

THANK YOU for your cooperation.

Tech break checklist

Plan ahead with the REMC Professional Learning Annual Calendar

REMC planning calendar

If you are looking to enhance your technology integration skills, explore new instructional delivery methods or learn tips and tricks from Michigan educational practitioners – The REMC Association has something for you!  To help with your professional learning planning, check out their REMC Course schedule through June 2024.

Take a look at all course offerings and register today! Earn 10 FREE SCECHs upon completion. Simply visit www.remc.org/remc-all-events/.

Have a great break!

Happy Thanksgiving break, one and all.

As you close out your classrooms for a well deserved break the rest of this week, please ensure these technology items are also taken care of. Thanks!

Classroom Technology

  • Please also secure or take home all District-assigned devices (laptop, Chromebook, iPad, etc.), as well as all personally-owned devices.
  • Power off projectors/IFPs, sound amps, and desktop computers. Unplug any lamps, power strips, etc. You may leave district printers and copiers plugged in and powered on.
  • If you have a cart of devices, ensure that all devices are plugged in, the cart is locked and plugged in.

What’s new on IXL – Oct 2023

IXL October roundup

IXL continues to share feature updates. Their October roundup highlights new units of the Takeoff curriculum, more tailored learning games, and more.

New Takeoff by IXL Math™ units We’ve added units 4 and 5 to the Takeoff curriculum!
These comprehensive lesson plans, learning activities, and assessments provide 2nd-5th grade teachers with everything they need to personalize whole-class math instruction.

New school-level reports
School administrators have two new reports to track student practice: Skill Usage and Skill Proficiency!
These reports clearly show how your students are tracking towards research-backed goals, complete with powerful filtering and seamless export.

Tailored IXL game variations

We’ve made updates to our IXL learning games to be better tailored for each grade level!

IXL’s games include a wide range of content and gameplay options. To make it easier for younger students to work on content that’s appropriate for their grade level, we’ve added multiple variations of some games that better align to different levels of advancement. We’ve also preset the difficulty levels and game board sizes so that students can jump right into gameplay.

Check out some of the new game variations below:

We now have more than 360 games on IXL! Find them on the grade level pages for K-5.

Action Required: MiStar Configure

Middle and high School teachers, please ensure that your MiStar Gradebook setup is complete. If just one teacher for a student has not completed this step, that student and their family will not be able to view any of their assignments for any classes in MiStar.

TO DO: Please go to your MISTAR grade book and locate the Configurations area. Make sure you don’t see red Xs or yield signs in the first three columns. If you do, go to the specific area to see what is missing in set up.

Configure gradebook

FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS: Also, make sure you are NOT having an incorrect term (for example Q1 instead of now Q2 or Semester 1) display for your students/families in your grade book. If you do, that will also cause students and families to not see any of their students’ assignments in Parent and Student Connect.  From this reference sheet:

making visible marking periods

For more information about using MiStar, see this training guide.

Status update – where district leadership stands on AI and NLP as of October 2023

AI and NLP in Education

Advancements in generative artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) have been evolving quickly over the past year, which is both exciting and concerning. While generative AI and NLP have tremendous educational potential, there are also concerns about the quality of these tools, as well as their data privacy policies and practices. In response, P-CCS has put together a working group to better understand, evaluate, and determine how students and staff might use generative AI and NLP in the future.

Our district leadership, in collaboration with other districts and industry, is already working on a plan for generative AI and NLP tools. We have begun to explore how we might leverage the power of generative AI and NLP to enhance teaching and learning practices, promote innovation, and prepare students for an AI-informed and driven future; at the same time district leadership also acknowledges the educational arena shouldn’t simply allow full access to all manner of AI and NLP tools and services. Within our exploration and plan development, we believe consideration ought to be given to the ethical considerations of using generative AI, including equity implications, bias, and privacy concerns, and how to address them responsibly. Service terms of use (including age restrictions and data usage) also need to be reviewed and factored in.

While it might frustrate those who want to adopt and embrace all that is AI right away – and the allure to do so is understandably compelling since AI tools are so powerful – this school year should be considered as a year of learning, so that a thoughtful implementation is more likely to follow. Please understand that as part of this journey, access to some tools is expected to shift in the coming months, with some tools and services presently accessible later being blocked and other tools and services presently blocked later made accessible. 

We will continue to provide updates from the District’s AI working group throughout the year. 

THE GOOGLE FOR EDUCATION NEWSLETTER ISSUE 68

Google for Edu

A few highlights from the October issue.

National Disability Awareness Month
October is National Disability Awareness Month. AI has been built into Chromebooks and Google Workspace for Education from the beginning, like Live Caption, reading mode, translation, and more. Find helpful features and tips for using them in the classroom on our website.

The Next Phase of Digital Whiteboarding in Workspace
We’re winding down Google Jambaord and teaming up with FigJam, Lucid, and Miro to offer whiteboarding in Workspace. To learn more about each offering, see which is best for your educational institution, and get guidance and resources for using these tools, please visit the Help Center.

New ways for people to engage with culture through play
Play four surprising new experimental games to approach and consider art in unique and thought-provoking ways – from getting your fortune read with an art themed tarot deck to a staring contest with famous artworks.

Exploring Latino cultures on Google Arts & Culture
Google Arts & Culture’s Latino Cultures hub features a variety of new meaningful topics, including the vibrant and rhythmic world of Caribbean salsa music, the impact of Latinos with disabilities and the long history of Indigenous Mexico.

Connecting people and places on Google Arts & Culture’s Preserving our Past hub
Explore Google Arts & Cutlure’s expanded heritage preservation hub “Preserving Our Past”, featuring new sites and digital stories by the US State Department’s Cultural Heritage Center.

Día de los Muertos Fun with Applied Digital Skills
Celebrate Dia de los Muertos in style with our Create Papel Picado in Google Slides lesson! Unveil the vibrant world of this Mexican holiday tradition as your students craft their own digital papel picado art.

See past issues or sign up for the Google Education Newsletter.

Google for Edu archives