Operating System & Browser Information

Operating System Information

You are probably aware that Microsoft has announced that as of yesterday, April 8, it is no longer supporting Windows XP and there will be no further security updates or offer technical support. If you are on an elementary campus, you are also aware that we are still using XP until the end of this year. Please do not be alarmed. Our district has security options in place and will continue to support our XP users.

If you are using XP at home, you may want to consider upgrading to a newer operating system. Remember that you can purchase Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 for less than $10 at ems.onthehub.com. The secondary campuses transitioned to Windows 7 this year, and Elementary campuses will be using Windows 7 for the 2014-15 school year. 

Browser Suggestions

We have received information from Schoolwires and Eduphoria that recommend all users use Chrome, Firefox, or Safari when accessing their sites. Specifically,

• Schoolwires Site Manager may not be accessible or may not work correctly in IE. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari should work fine. ESC 11 officially recommends Chrome when editing sites in Schoolwires.
• Eduphoria announced that IE8 on XP will no longer have access to SchoolObjects in late April and that IE8 will be blocked for all users this summer. IE9 will continue to work, but users may not be able to use all features. Eduphoria recommends using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari if you are running Windows XP or Vista.

Schoolwires Site Manager in Internet Explorer

If you have tried to update your EM-S ISD website in Internet Explorer in the last couple of weeks, you may have encountered an error message like this:

This is a compatibility issue and can be fixed with just a couple of clicks of the mouse.

• In the IE browser, click the cog (gear) in the upper right corner of your screen.
• Click Compatibility View Settings
• Click the Add button next to emsisd.com, click Close

When you click Site Manager again, you should get right in. Happy Editing!

Elementary Grading Handbook Revisions: Homework Grades (3rd-5th)

The newly revised Elementary Grading Report Handbook states that "Homework does not need to be graded; however, at teacher discretion, it may count for a maximum of 10% of the 40% daily work weighting."

If you are interested in including homework grades in your gradebook, this video will walk you through the process of manually determining if you are in compliance.