Students and staff at Mason City High School are left in a whirl as they make the switch from Power School to Infinite Campus, the management information system (MIS) to track grades and attendance.
“This has come with a few glitches and there is a natural adjustment to using a new system,” said MCHS Principal Dan Long, “I have been impressed with our staff’s patience and efforts to help each other out as they learn new features.”
The MCHS School District decided to replace PowerSchool with Infinite Campus, as the district received many reports of ongoing issues relating to PowerSchool. These systems hold demographic and contact information. They also communicate schedules, grades, and transcripts for students.
“The reason for our switch to Infinite Campus was spurred because we were having many issues with PowerSchool working correctly,” said Long. “Over the years, several updates and individualized modifications were made in PowerSchool that were impacting its ability to provide accurate information.”
MCSSD soon discovered Infinite Campus, which was prominent among schools in Iowa as the schools had positive feedback about the software.
Sophomore Leah Gerrietts says the new MIS has some benefits.
“Infinite Campus is working better than PowerSchool in my opinion, It doesn’t shut down as much, and I can see what grade I got on a test as soon as I open it,” said Gerrietts, “Something I think that has been a problem is that when I try to find my overall grades for my classes, it’s hard to find.”
Ninth-grade math teacher, Janet Hansen, said Infinite Campus will show positive benefits in the distant future.
“In the long run, I feel Infinite Campus will support some things that we were not able to do in PowerSchool,” said Hansen, “However, the learning curve is real. There haven’t yet been features added that we were accustomed to, but I feel those will be added soon as we continue rolling out the new system.”
The new change for the system is a learning process. IT staff is working around the clock to help students and staff through the transition.
