Director's Message

A message from the ETIS Director, William Carr

Security

2-Factor, student safety, what is PII and teacher tip.

2-Factor authentication for PSUSD is a high priority. Over the past 6 weeks the ETIS team has worked to enroll all full time staff to meet the district's cyber security goal of protecting our most vital resources

Low Voltage

A/V Upgrades

MPR upgrades to the following sites have been approved, and installations took place over the Summer:

• • • • • Bella Vista Elementary School
        • Bubbling Wells Elementary School
        • Cabot Yerxa Elementary School
        • Desert Hot Springs High School
        • Painted Hills Middle School

Cakewalk

Esport Finals, Robotics Tournament, Drones and Coding 2022-23

Esports Finals

Esports (also known as electronic sports, e-sports, or eSports) is a form of competition using video games. Most commonly, esports takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions. We were happy to bring back our in person tournaments for Esports. This year we welcomed back Esports to all our high schools and launched our middle schools Esports clubs as well. We have had an internal league called DVEA and have been playing League of Legends and Smash. We’ve held three in-person tournaments for this school year for our secondary students and the hope is to expand to some of our elementary sites in the coming seasons. Keep an eye out for our first tournament later this fall! 

High School Standings

Middle School Standings

Robotics Tournament

The PSUSD Robotics Tournament is growing. This year’s tournament took place on Friday, May 13, 2022. We hosted 9 elementary schools and 4 middle schools. Elementary student teams programmed Dash robots to navigate a map filled with obstacles. Middle school student teams programmed Lego Mindstorm robots to complete tasks. We partnered with PSUSD Foundation to make this event possible. It was a thrilling day of coding and competition!

2022-2023 Updates for Drones and Coding  

PSUSD hosted Drone Boot Camps at 4 of their comprehensive high schools. These were voluntary to attend and were held on Saturdays from 9:00 am- 3:00 pm.  Those who attended the boot camp received a professional drone and safety gear, they l also had the opportunity to earn their FFA license.

In addition, they also learned about drone cinematography (from the drone guy “Skip” who filmed Fast and Furious), engineering and repair, commercial application and racing skills. ETIS hopes to expand their drones program into an after school drones racing club at high schools and middle schools in the 2022-2023 school year.

ETIS Tech Tips! (You're Welcome)

Google Forms to gather student feedback

Want to use Google Forms to gather student feedback but hate that students have to complete the entire form to submit it? Good news! Students can now automatically save their progress in Google Forms. The Google Workspace for Education has launched their draft responses for Google Forms in beta.

Now, when students are responding to a Google Form, Quiz, or Quizz assignment in Classroom, their progress will automatically be saved as a draft for 30 days from their last edit or until the form is completed. This beta is only available to Google Workspace for Education accounts.

Adding a Widget to your Synergy Homepage 

Hey Synergy Admin users, did you know you can add a Widget to your Synergy Home Page? Would you like to know how many of your Parents are signed up for ParentVUE by School Site? You're in luck! You can unlock the secret and learn today!

IT TOSA

Chrome warrior/Allude Teacher Odyssey launch

PSUSD Odyssey is a fun and engaging professional learning experience developed uniquely for Palm Springs Unified teachers at all skill levels. New and updated PSUSD Odyssey to reboot and launch in the Fall. We put the teachers as learners at the center of your professional learning. We are updating the entire structure of the PSUSD Odyssey platform to make it easier for the users. In addition, content will be added and updated that align to district goals. We will have content that align to professional development in the areas of Google Workspace, Classroom tools, Pedagogy, Curriculum and many more. Level Up and develop mastery in technology tools, expand your learning network, and gain knowledge in implementing technology in your classroom.

The scoop about Online Registration (OLR)

 We are movin’ on up when it comes to yearly student data validation! For the 22-23 School Year, most PSUSD schools have begun using the OLR (short for Online Registration) tool for returning student data validation. This new process replaces the hefty packet (including emergency cards) that is sent home at the beginning of every school. It not only makes it easier for parents to verify and/or update returning student information online (via ParentVUE) anytime and from anywhere…but also helps lower printing costs for the district and improves the quantity of time it takes enrollment staff to ensure student data is updated in Synergy.

Our six awesome pilot schools (LAN, RV, JWMS, NNC, PSHS, and RMHS) were amazing with outreaching to parents to get them on ParenVUE as well as helping the Student Services and ETIS department fine tune the implementation process. OLR been available since student transfers were approved.  We encourage all of our sites to continue working diligently to get parents on ParentVUE. And because a little healthy competition never hurt anyone – there was a pizza party for the school office staff with the highest percentage increase in ParentVUE participation! Congratulations Sunny Sands Elementary School for your hard work! We hope you enjoyed your pizza! 

Badging Reminder

Dos and Don'ts

 Do - Wear your badge every work day while on District property and it is visible.  This should be verified by front office personnel
Do - Make sure it is the current color if you are a Substitute (Purple)
 Do - Notify IDBADGE@psusd.us immediately if you lose it
 Do - Get your Principal/Director authorization via email (IDBADGE@psusd.us) if it is lost and you need a replacement.  Coordinators, VP, Mangers, etc. are not accepted approvals)
 Do - Come during badging hours when you need a badge (M, T, TH: 9am - 10am & 2pm - 4pm)
 Do - Always turn in your current badge when you are getting a new one to replace it
 Don’t - Keep your badge in your car or hot places
 Don’t - Hole punch it
 Don’t - Come for a replacement of a lost badge without proper approval first
 Don’t - Deface your badge in any way, your picture/name/title/department should be visible at all times

ETIS Employee Spotlight

New girl on the block

Hi Peeps, my name is May and I'm the new Webmaster! 🕸
I joined the PSUSD fam last November. It's been fun to jump right in and start adding a creative flare to our website. My background is in Interactive Digital Marketing and Web Design which helps feed my creative passions. You'll often hear me say "I'll make it look pretty." And you better believe it!

I previously worked at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens for 8 years, and quickly learned that the district is a whole new animal. The lingo, departments, acronyms, system, etc. is all brand new to me, so I WILL ask a lot of questions - fair warning! Understanding what you all do will help me optimize our websites and make it pretty! Slowly making my rounds, page by page, to reach out and help organize department pages and school websites.

I was born and raised in the Coachella Valley (CC Mob), I'm a proud product of PSUSD and actually have an immense number of family members that work for the district as well! If you have a whole afternoon to spare, feel free to call and I can name them all. Everyone I've met and interacted with has been so nice and I'm looking forward to meeting the rest of the gang. Give me a holler if you have any questions.