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Create an Incident

Create Incident

Discipline incidents can be created at the school or district level. If an incident occurs on school grounds, PowerSchool recommends creating the incident while logged into that school. If the incident occurs within the district but is not related to a particular school, PowerSchool recommends creating the incident at the district level.

To use Incident Management for Student Discipline in State General Collection Reporting, security groups must be granted access to any Incident Type that contains a caret (^) in the description. Refer to System Help in PowerSchool for more information on how to set up group-level permissions.


How to Set Up Attendance Entry within Incident Management: 

Incident Action Attendance provides the user with the ability to quickly enter attendance for the students involved in an incident using the Quick Incident or the Detailed Incident pages.

Instructions on Set Up for Attendance Entry within Incident Management.

How to Create Quick Incident Templates: 

Creating Quick Incident Templates will allow users to quickly create an Incident with specific codes and subcodes selected in the template. Additional information can be added to the Incident, the template allows for consistency and ease of creating an incident.

Instructions on Creating Quick Incident Templates

How to Set Up Teacher Referrals:

Teachers can create a Teacher Referral for Incident Management in the PowerSchool Teacher Portal or through Observations in PowerTeacher Pro.

Enable Incident Creation in the PowerSchool Teacher Portal and PowerTeacher Pro.

  1. On the start page, choose District under Setup in the main menu. 
  2. Under District Information, click Miscellaneous. 
  3. Select the Enable Incident Creation by Teachers checkbox to enable incident creation in the PowerSchool teacher portal.
  4. Click Submit. 

Create Quick Incident

An Incident will report as a state reporting discipline when a) the incident has an Incident Type with a description containing a caret (^) AND b) the Behavior Code has a State Report Code. All behavior codes that begin with either (MSDS/CRDC) or (MSDS) have a State Report Code.

  • The Incident can be excluded from state reporting when the Incident Type has a) the description containing a caret (^) AND b) the Behavior Code has a Stare Report Code if the ‘(MSDS) Exclude from State Reporting^’ Attribute is selected.
  • If the Incident does not have both a) an Incident Type with a description containing a caret (^) AND b) a Behavior code that has a State Report Code it it not necessary to use the '(MSDS) Exclude from State Reporting, the Incident will not report because the a and b conditions have not been met.

Use the Create Quick Incident function to quickly and easily create a discipline incident. If changing a Teacher Referral to a state reportable Incident, the Quick Incident option is not an option, the Teacher Referral will be modified using the create detail incident instructions.

Access Create Quick Incident from Special Functions:

  1. On the start page, choose Special Functions under Functions in the main menu.
  2. Click Incident Management.
  3. Click Create Incident and choose Create Quick Incident.

Access Create Quick Incident from Student Pages:

  1. On the start page, search for and select a student.
  2. Under Administration, choose Incidents from the student pages menu.
  3. Click Create Incident and choose Create Quick Incident.

Create Quick Incident:

  1. Log in to the district or school associated with the incident.
  2. Navigate to Start Page > Incident Management.
  3. Click the Create Incident arrow and choose Create Quick Incident.
    • Once the selection is made, the system will default to that type of incident creation but can be changed to Create Detailed Incident by clicking the arrow and selecting that option.
  4. Enter a Title and brief Description of the incident.
  5. Choose an Incident Type that contains a caret (^) in the description.
  6. Select the Incident Date.
  7. The Time Frame is not necessary for the state General Collection, but codes are available and can be used for district purposes.
  8. Enter the Number of Participants and type the person preparing the Incident in the Prepared By field.
  9. If at the district level, select the School (note: this option is not available if entering the Incident at the school level).
  10. The Location and Location Description are not necessary for the state General Collection, but codes are available and can be used for district purposes.
  11. Check the (MSDS) Exclude from State Reporting attribute checkbox IF this is an incident being created in an Incident Type that contains a caret (^) in the description, has a Behavior Code that begins with (MSDS/CRDC) or (MSDS) and should not be in the state General Collection, such as a CRDC Allegation only incident.
  12. Click the blue Next button.
  13. Assign students, staff, and other participants, and their roles as needed.
    • If the Number of Participants entered was not enough to include all the participants, the additional participants will need to be added once the incident is created.
  14. Choose the Behavior Code > Behavior Subcode(s).
    • Select the Primary Behavior or Allegation if either of these apply. It is not necessary for a Primary Behavior to be checked for the Incident to be reported in the State General Collection. A behavior will report in state reporting when the Incident Type has a caret (^) in the description and when a Behavior Code that begins with (MSDS/CRDC) or (MSDS).
    • Behaviors that relate to both state and CRDC are in the (MSDS/CRDC) Incident Type^. For the behaviors that are only required for CRDC, the codes are in the (CRDC) Harassment/Bullying^ and (CRDC) Offense Category^. A student can have more than one behavior code and will likely need more than one for CRDC reportable behaviors.
    • To add additional behaviors, click the Plus (+) icon found to the right of the Behaviors section.
  15. Choose the Action Code > Action Subcode(s) and enter applicable action information.
    • Enter the Begin Date and End Date of the action. The End Date is not used in the state General Collection but will need to be entered if the district is using the option to Write Attendance for Incident Actions.
    • Select (MSDS) Days^ as the Duration Code. The Assigned Duration and Actual Duration will be entered in half-day increments (i.e. A half-day would be entered as 0.5; 2 days would be entered as 2.0, 3 ½ days would be entered as 3.5).
    • Select the appropriate Action Attributes.
    • If using the ‘(MSDS) Followup^’ Action Code, only the Action needs to be entered. The Dates, and Duration Codes are not required to be entered for the state General Collection.
    • To add additional actions, click the Plus (+) icon found to the right of the Actions section.
  16. If the number of participants was more than one, select the Next button to enter the information on the next participant and continue to click Next until all the participants’ information has been created.
  17. Save the Incident.
  18. Edit the Incident and add the Participant Attributes to select the 7 Disciplinary Factors before suspending or expelling a student, and/or Object Codes if the district chooses to identify the Drug or Weapon related to the behavior. The Object Codes are not used in the State General Collection.

  19. If the Attendance in Incident Management is setup up: to enter attendance:

    1. Navigate to the Attendance Related Actions section.
    2. Click the Edit (pencil) button of the attendance related action you want to work with.
    3. Click Enter Attendance.

    4. To set attendance for the entire date range:

      1. Choose the Attendance Code you want to enter.
      2. Click Set All for Range to enter attendance for the entire date range.

      3. Click OK.

    5. To set attendance within the date range:

      Note: When entering meeting attendance, if the date range spans multiple weeks, click Previous Week or Next Week to view.

      1. Choose the Attendance Code you want to enter.

      2. Enter daily or meeting/interval attendance as needed.
        Note: If enabled, Clock In/Clock Out is available with meeting/interval.

      3. For each different attendance code you want to enter, repeat step a and step b.

    6. Click OK.

  20. Save the Incident.

Refer to Create Quick Incidents in PowerSchool Admin Help documentation for more information.

Create Detailed Incident

An Incident will report as a state reporting discipline when the incident has an Incident Type with a description containing a caret (^), the Behavior Code has a State Report Code, and the ‘(MSDS) Exclude from State Reporting^’ Attribute is not selected.

Use the steps below to create a new incident and populate the Incident Description portion of the incident when selecting the Create Detailed Incident option.

  1. Log in to the school or district associated with the incident.
  2. Navigate to Start Page > Incident Management.
  3. Click the Create Incident arrow and choose Create Detailed Incident.
    • Once the selection is made, the system will default to that type of incident creation but can be changed to Create Quick Incident by clicking the arrow and selecting that option.
  4. If at the district level, select the School (note: this option is not available if entering the Incident at the school level).
  5. Choose an Incident Type that contains a caret (^) in the description.
  6. Enter the Incident Date and Time based on when the incident occurred.
  7. The Time Frame is not necessary for the state General Collection, but codes are available and can be used for district purposes.
  8. Enter the Title and Description as needed for local use.
  9. The Location and Location Description are not necessary for the state General Collection, but codes are available and can used for district purposes
  10. Either add additional information, see below, or click Submit Incident to save the changes. Participant, Behavior, and Action must exist for the incident to be included in the state General Collection.

Incident Builder - Participants

Use the steps below to populate the Participants portion of an incident.

Add Student and Staff Participants

Use these steps to add a student or staff member who is in the PowerSchool system.

  1. Click the Plus (+) button next to Participants. The Search for Student, Staff, or Other Participants dialog appears.
  2. Enter the criteria for the search and click Search. The Results section is populated with matching participants.
  3. Highlight the appropriate participant in the search results.
  4. Click Add.
  5. Choose a role from the Select Role(s) pop-up menu.
  6. Click the Plus (+) button under Attributes. A Participant Attribute code pop-up menu appears.
  7. Choose the appropriate Participant Attribute code from the menu.
  8. Click Add Participant Attributes and enter the attributes that are needed for the Participant Role.
  9. Either add additional information, see below, or click Submit Incident to save the changes. Participant, Behavior, and Action must exist for the incident to be included in the state General Collection.

Add Other Participants

Use these steps to add a participant who is not in the PowerSchool system.

  1. Click the Plus (+) button next to Participants. The Search for Student, Staff, or Other Participants dialog appears.
  2. Click Create Other.
  3. Populate the First, Middle, Last names, position, age, and gender fields. This information should be defined, if known, for both Offenders and Victims, but is not needed for Witnesses. Reporters do not need to be defined.
  4. Click Add.
  5. Choose a role from the Select Role(s) pop-up menu. There must be at least one Offender per incident.
  6. Click the Plus (+) button under Attributes. A Participant Attribute code pop-up menu appears.
  7. Choose the appropriate Participant Attribute code from the menu.
  8. Click Add Participant Attributes and enter the attributes that are needed for the Participant Role.
  9. Either add additional information, see below, or click Submit Incident to save the changes. Participant, Behavior, and Action must exist for the incident to be included in the state General Collection.

Incident Builder - Incident Elements

Use the steps below to add behaviors, actions, objects, and attributes to the incident.

Click Submit Incident to save the changes after you have added all the required behaviors, actions, objects, and attributes.

Add an Attribute

Use the steps below to add attributes to the incident.

  1. Click the Plus (+) button next to Incident Elements.
  2. Choose Add Attribute from the pop-up menu.
  3. Select the applicable attributes.
  4. Click Add Attributes. Each attribute appears under the Incident Elements heading.

Add a Behavior

Use the steps below to add behaviors to the incident.

  1. Click the Plus (+) button next to Incident Elements.
  2. Choose Add Behavior from the pop-up menu.
  3. Choose the appropriate Behavior Code from the pop-up menu and then choose the appropriate behavior subcode from the subsequent menu.
    • Select the Primary Behavior or Allegation if either of these apply. It is not necessary for a Primary Behavior to be checked for the Incident to be reported in the State General Collection. A behavior will report in state reporting when a) the Incident Type has a caret (^) in the description AND b) the Behavior Code begins with (MSDS/CRDC) or (MSDS), this means the Behavior Code has a State Report Code.
    • Behaviors that relate to both state and CRDC are in the (MSDS/CRDC) Incident Type^. For the behaviors that are only required for CRDC, the codes are in the (CRDC) Harassment/Bullying^ and (CRDC) Offense Category^. A student can have more than one behavior code and will likely need more than one for CRDC reportable behaviors.
  4. Click Add Behavior. The behavior appears under the Incident Elements heading.
  5. Click and drag the behavior to the appropriate offender(s).

Add an Object

Use the steps below to add objects (Weapons and Illegal Drugs) to the incident. This information does not report on the state General Collection or CRDC report, but is available for the district’s use.

  1. Click the Plus (+) button next to Incident Elements.
  2. Choose Add Object and Subcodes from the pop-up menu
  3. Click and drag the object to the appropriate offender. The object appears under the name of the offender and remains listed under Incident Elements, and can be added to multiple offenders.

Add an Action

Use the steps below to add actions to the incident.

  1. Click the Plus (+) button next to Incident Elements.
  2. Choose Add Action from the pop-up menu.
  3. Choose the appropriate Action Code from the pop-up menu and then choose the appropriate action subcode from the subsequent menu.
    • Enter the Begin Date and End Date of the action. The End Date is not used in the state General Collection but will need to be entered if the district is using the option to Write Attendance for Incident Actions.
    • Select (MSDS) Days^ as the Duration Code. The Assigned Duration and Actual Duration will be entered in half-day increments (i.e. A half-day would be entered as 0.5; 2 days would be entered as 2.0, 3 ½ days would be entered as 3.5).
    • Select the appropriate Action Attributes.
    • If using the ‘(MSDS) Followup^’ Action Code, only the Action needs to be entered. The Dates, and Duration Codes are not required to be entered for the state General Collection.
  4. Populate the Action Date Range field (Begin Date & End Date). The action end date reported is the next in session day after the Action Date Range End Date.
  5. Choose the Duration Code. If the incident is state reportable the Duration Code must be Days.
  6. Enter the Assigned Duration in half-day day increments (i.e. 3 ½ days would be entered as 3.5). If the Actual Duration is populated, the Actual Duration will be used for state reporting. If using Actual Duration, it must be in half-day increments.
  7. Add additional information as applicable.
  8. Click Add Action. The action appears under the Incident Elements heading.
  9. Click and drag the action to the appropriate behavior or offender. The action appears under the behavior or offender and is no longer listed under Incident Elements.

Click Submit Incident to save the changes after you have added all the required behaviors, actions, objects, and attributes.

Enter Attendance:

Attendance must be setup for Incident Management.

  1. Navigate to the Attendance Related Actions section.
  2. Click the Edit (pencil) button of the attendance related action you want to work with.
  3. Click Enter Attendance.
  4. To set attendance for the entire date range:
      1. Choose the Attendance Code you want to enter.
      2. Click Set All for Range to enter attendance for the entire date range.

      3. Click OK.

  5. To set attendance within the date range: Note: When entering meeting attendance, if the date range spans multiple weeks, click Previous Week or Next Week to view.
      1. Choose the Attendance Code you want to enter.

      2. Enter daily or meeting/interval attendance as needed.
        Note: If enabled, Clock In/Clock Out is available with meeting/interval.

      3. For each different attendance code you want to enter, repeat step 1 and step 2.

  6. Click OK.
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