Certificate error message last weekend

Several people reported a Security Certificate Error when trying to log in to Google Apps last weekend. This was caused by a problem with our authentication server's security certificate. There was not a real security threat, but I really appreciate people stopping and contacting IT before proceeding, so that we could determine whether somebody was trying to intercept information.

We have a workaround in place (since Sunday- thanks Zach!) and are working on a permanent solution.

Allowing YouTube videos through the Educational Video Library (EVL)

Have you ever wanted to approve certain YouTube videos so that students could watch them in class individually, instead of showing them to everyone on the big screen? Well, now you can. Introducing the Educational Video Library, which lets staff pre-approve videos from YouTube which will be viewable by students through our content filter. See http://sites.google.com/a/oregonsd.net/technology-integration-tool/Home/youtube-videos for instructions.

PowerSchool planned outage Thurs., 10/29, 7-9 PM

PowerSchool will be unavailable while the server is upgraded on Thursday, 10/29, from 7-9 PM. Please plan accordingly.

Google Apps login problems resolved

The problems affecting some OHS users logging in to Google Apps has been resolved. There was a security setting that prevented SSL traffic (port 443) to unknown IP addresses. For some reason, a block of Google's IP addresses which happen to be used to process our SAML-based authentication were classified as "unknown" so they were getting blocked. We don't know what precipitated this change, but the workaround has been put into place.

If you continue to get errors like this, please report them to the helpdesk.

Google Gadgets not Working

Google's gadgets (aka "widgets," aka "little box things") are not working, resulting in a less-than-useful start page (see below).

Email is still working- you can access it at http://mail.oregonsd.net
Calendar is also working- you can access it at http://calendar.oregonsd.net 

We have contacted Google and told them about the problem. They are looking into it.

Quick tip: Don't miss a meeting!

Please take 1 minute to update this setting so that you don't miss a meeting invitation:

1.  Click on "Calendar"  (the top-left corner of the page)
2.  In the "My Calendars" section on the left side of the page click the triangle next to your name
3.  Select "Notifications"
4.  Make sure there are checkmarks in at least the first three boxes under "Email" (on the right side of the page)
5.  Click "Save"

Thank you!

PowerSchool planned outage Wed., 10/14, 7-8 PM

PowerSchool will be unavailable on Wednesday, October 14, 7-8 PM, for a version upgrade. Please do not log in during this time.

In addition to some important bug fixes, the upgrade has one significant improvement: the parent portal will show exactly what teachers have entered in the grade book.  For example, if a teacher marks an assignment as an "M" for missing, or "L" for late, it will show up for parents to see.