By Olivia Van Norman
Staff Writer
The PowerSchool server shutdown on August 27, 2015 at 4:00 PM across the nation due to air-conditioning units overheating in the warehouse that stores the company’s servers.
The AC units burned, and cool air could not be provided to keep the servers from getting too hot. Because of this, PowerSchool put into effect a safe shutdown of the servers so all the data would not be harmed.
“This issue affected many CenturyLink customers, not just PowerSchool.
As a result of CenturyLink’s HVAC failure, PowerSchool was forced to implement safe shutdown procedures to prevent server damage, resulting in PowerSchool servers being unavailable to customers for 18-24 hours,” Manhattan Beach Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews said.
Because PowerSchool is what is used for scheduling student’s classes, MCHS staff was inconvenienced by the crash. However, the delay was only two days and by August 31, PowerSchool was once again running.
“We schedule students and having PowerSchool break down on day two and three really affected schedules and directing students where to go,” Costa Vice Principal Karina Gerger said.
According to Sophomore Kalea Conrad, having this problem so early in the school year was overwhelming for students. It was an additional stress put on kids who didn’t know what classes they were scheduled in on the first days of school.
“Starting the year off not sure where I was supposed to be was a problem I had to think about because PowerSchool crashed and I couldn’t change my schedule,” Sophomore Kalea Conrad said.
The administration was able to keep things under control by communicating the situation to staff. Parent and student concerns were also addressed, helping to manage the situation.
“I think that anytime you communicate with parents and kids with what’s going on it lowers anxiety,” Costa Principal Dale said.
Once PowerSchool was repaired, less students requested a schedule change than what was expected from the school. Students no longer requested a change in their classes after being in them for a couple of days.
“Students were really understanding. Despite the crash, the scheduling went really smoothly,” Counselor Kiesha Fields said.
AC units overheating and causing PowerSchool to shut down is not something anybody can anticipate. PowerSchool is the program chosen by staff, so it is important for Mira Costa to be prepared for anything, no matter how unpredictable.
“PowerSchool is the system that a group of administrators, teachers, staff and counselors recommended after reviewing many different providers,” Matthews said. “There are interruptions to almost all service providers. PowerSchool could have brought it back earlier, but all of the data from that day would have been lost.”
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