Attendance - District Calendar FAQs

District Calendar FAQs

• When do you need to use a district calendar?
  • If the student’s schedule accurately reflects in the school calendar, the student does not need to use a district calendar. A student can have a district calendar, however, records do not need to be created under the district calendar day, if the school calendar accurately reflects their schedule.
  • If the student’s schedule does not accurately reflect in the school calendar, then the student needs to be set to a district calendar that accurately reflects their schedule. District calendar day records need to be created for each day where the student’s schedule deviates from the school calendar.
• If the district calendar is created for a student or group of students, do I need to create all the days underneath that calendar?
  • You do not need to create all days in the district calendar. You need to create under a district calendar only if the student's schedule is different from the school calendar on any day.
    • For example, if a student needs to go to school only four days a week. The student does not attend on Mondays. However, the rest of the week the student attends school at the same time as the other students. This student needs a district calendar and there must be a district calendar day record for each Monday that reflects the non-instructional time. The remaining days do not require records to be created under the district calendar as the school calendar correctly reflects the student's schedule.
• Can I import district calendar day records?
  • Yes, district calendar day records can be imported. Following these directions to build your import file:
    • From the parent District Calendar record in the Data Export Manager (S_ID_DIstrictCalendar_S), get the values for the following:
      • ID
      • Unique_id
    • In your import file, you need the following columns (in bold font), with the following values:
      • S_ID_DistrictCalendar_SID - this is the ID number of the parent district calendar you looked up
      • ForgeignKey - this is the unique_id of the parent district calendar you looked up
      • Date_Value - date of the day record
      • InstructionTime - applicable instruction time
      • NonInstructionTime - applicable non-instruction time
      • EmergClosureTime - applicable emergency closure time

      • VacationTime - applicable vacation time

        

        You do not need all the four time columns if you are not importing values into all four.

• • • If your column headers match the bolded field names, the mapping is automatic.
• I have Kindergarten (or PreK) students that attend school the same days of the week as the regular student population, but they can only be reported as a .5 and not 1. How is this done?
  • Create a K district calendar for these students and make sure the “Full-Time” checkbox is not checked. This makes the report return a .5 for students on this calendar as opposed to a 1. District calendar day records do not need to be created as the students in this example attend school the same days as the rest of the students.
  • Also, the students.membershipshare field must be set to .5, so the core attendance reports reflect correctly. This can be done using Student Field Value.
• I have alternative students that attend school for 6 hours a day, but they all attend the same days as indicated by the school calendar. Do I need to create district calendar day records that reflect 6 possible instructional hours?

  • The alternative students attend the same days as the other students, so the district calendar day records do not need to be created. You can create a district calendar and set the Max Hours of Instruction field to 6.

    

    Alternative students must be in their own building in PowerSchool. They cannot be in a building with students on a “regular” calendar.

• If my alternative students are in their own building (regular or summer), do I need a district calendar?
  • No, in this case, a district calendar is not necessary. Set the Max Hours at the school-level and ensure the school is set to an Alternative or Summer Alternative school.
• When do I need to use a DR (Dual Enrolled) calendar?
  • Only Private or Home School students are eligible to be on a DR calendar, so [Students.S_ID_STU_X]PH_Code (or phSchool on the ISEE report) must be set to P or H.
  • Like other district calendars, the only district calendar day records needed are exceptions to the linked default school calendar.

  • Students on these calendars should be on their own conversion to allow PowerSchool ADA reports to more closely align with the SDE reports.

    

    The PS ADA reports may not exactly match, due to differences in the way attendance data is aggregated by the state and PowerSchool.

• The attendance conversion for these students can mimic the example Alternative conversion noted at the beginning of this guide.