Change is not always easy, certainly not a change for a whole school district. But, while it may not always be easy, it is sometimes necessary. 

This year, one change affecting the entire Dallastown School District is the switch from Home Access Center (HAC) to Skyward over the summer.

Programs like HAC, which Dallastown has used since 2006, are used to monitor student grades, attendance, emergency information and more for teachers, students, and parents.

So, why the change?

“HAC was becoming outdated,” said Mrs. Gaynor, one of two high school Building Technology Integrators (BTIs) along with Mr. Melhorn. 

The administration needed to find a suitable replacement for HAC. Skyward was the answer. 

Dallastown’s Workforce, Career, and College Counselor Mr. Probert states, “We are at a critical point as a school. We are in a position to see benefits with the new program change.” 

Skyward, allows for some of the problems to be fixed, as the BTI teachers and technology staff hear back almost immediately on the problems that need to be communicated. 

“It’s just better. Skyward is more modernized and that’s the goal of Dallastown this year; to better meet the needs of students, staff, and parents all in the same program,” Gaynor said.

Probert, Melhorn, and Gaynor all agreed that the biggest benefit of Skyward is that all the information is in the same spot for students, faculty, and staff. Skyward has areas for grades, attendance, academic history, activities, assignments, test results, and more. 

However, with any new thing, there are going to be some glitches along the way. For example, some students are not yet able to view their grades correctly. But, it’s not just students; the teachers and staff of the building struggle too sometimes. 

The BTI’s job is to learn about new technology and then teach it to the rest of the building. BTI Gaynor and Melhorn said, “It gets challenging helping teachers in the building with it. We are having patience, but with any new thing there are growing pains.” 

Overall, the change to Skyward was the result of Dallastown making a needed upgrade in the grading system. Other districts such as Red Lion, Central, and Dover are already using Skyward, and our technology staff claims that it will also work for us when all the minor problems are fixed. The hope is that this new program will be an efficient, stable resource for students, parents, and staff. 

Senior and former Dallastown student Grace Craumer says, “I like Skyward because it’s easy to navigate. I can control almost everything to do with school from it. I love that I can see my grades and my lunch account all on the same program. So, while I moved to Central, I think Dallastown will end up liking the program.”