Category: Blog

MFA/Single Sign-on with PowerSchool and Google Education/Workspace

Most school districts are probably in the process of implementing MFA (multi-factor authentication) as most insurance providers are making MFA a requirement for coverage (not to mention it’s just a good idea). Many districts we work with are using third party solutions like Duo, SAASPASS, or similar and while these services work great, they can be expensive, and you can… Read more →

Navigating Parent-Teacher Conferences During Covid-19

Managing Parent-Teacher Conferences during the best of times can be difficult, but with the added challenge and stresses associated with Covid-19, hosting conferences can be especially daunting. Whether courses are taking place in-person or virtually, parent-teacher conferences are still a great opportunity to take one-on-one time with parents to discuss their student’s progress, and to ensure they are meeting appropriate… Read more →

Net Neutrality Matters

My name is Charles Syperski and I am the President of CWS Software.  My company provides a very inexpensive Parent-Teacher Conference scheduling system for school districts.  On December 14th 2017, the FCC will vote to end net neutrality protections.  Without net neutrality, small businesses and start-ups, like CWS Software, may not stand a chance to compete with established businesses.  As a… Read more →

Co-Teacher Scheduling & Variable Length Appointments

We are proud to announce that we have released PowerPTC version 1.4.0. This update includes improved support for co-teacher scheduling, plus other minor feature improvements and bug fixes. Here is a list of improvements we’ve implemented over the past year: Variable-length appointments ( #1 Requested Feature ) Co-teacher scheduling ( #2 Requested Feature ) Performance improvements (including building the master… Read more →

Mailboxes

Setting up a send-only mail server

As a software engineer or network administrator you will likely encounter a situation where you need to setup an email server that is only intended to send email but not accept incoming mail. This is a common setup for simple web applications which need to communicate with external users.  There are two methods that I typically use in these situations,… Read more →

Nominate PowerPTC @ District Administration

We would like to invite PowerPTC users to nominate PowerPTC for the 2016 Top Products at District Administration (www.districtadministration.com).  We try to make the best products possible at an affordable price, so if you are happy with PowerPTC, we ask you to take a couple of minutes to fill out the nomination form by September 6th, 2016.  We really appreciate your support… Read more →

Not Another Login!

The problem of information silos is one that plagued most industries and education is no exception.  It is not uncommon to hear from districts complaining that their parents might have 5 or more unique logins for the various systems required to stay involved in their child’s education.  School districts may have a student information system, learning management system, online registration… Read more →

Filtering YouTube with Bind9 Using a Response Policy Zone

In the educational world, YouTube has been considered a ‘bad’ word.  This is a bit troubling considering the wealth of information that is available on YouTube which could be used for educational purposes.  Many school districts are unaware of the tools they have to filter YouTube which may reduce the likelihood of a student stumbling across content that may be objectionable.  One of the… Read more →

5 Tips for Successful Parent-Teacher Conferences

Disclaimer:  CWS Software LLC sells a Parent-Teacher conference scheduling solution called PowerPTC, but the tips mentioned below should be helpful regardless of the scheduling method your organization uses.   1. Give Your Teachers Space Many school districts do not have enough classrooms for each teacher to have their dedicated space, so teachers must share classrooms.  This can make scheduling Parent-Teacher… Read more →