Synergy replaces Powerschool as Fenton’s primary educational software provider in order to cut costs; district estimates savings at $10,000
PHOTO Danielle Zawlocki
Freshmen Isaiah Crockett and Lauren Andrada listen to Student Council members as they tour the high school.
September 13, 2017
Fenton Area Public Schools has made the switch from the education technology platform Powerschool to Synergy. Synergy Student Information System (SIS) supplies data and process management; it has a reputation of being a program that extends to even further boundaries than a typical SIS would.
“I used Synergy at the district I came from before teaching at Fenton,” literature and composition teacher Janette Toal said. “It does look different from Powerschool, but teachers can complete the same tasks. An important feature unique to Synergy, though, is the ability to upload Illuminate scores directly into the gradebook for immediate viewing.”
This feature saves teachers time. Additionally, Synergy logs attendance, calendars, course history, allows for online registration and houses demographics such as birthdays, addresses, parents, emergency contact information and student health alerts.
“There are also different reports that can be generated, like the grade distribution chart,” Toal said. “This illustrates how many students earned As, Bs, etc…, at the end of a term. Synergy also makes it possible to create a chart that reveals how attendance affects grades. As with Powerschool, Synergy allows teachers to send emails to parents.”
The switch to Synergy is district wide. It costs less than Powerschool and its implementation is part of a cost reduction plan that looks to save the district $10,000 according to Executive Director of Finance and Personel Doug Busch.
“All the other districts in Genesee County (except Fenton, Swartz Creek & Clio) went to Synergy about three years ago,” Assistant Principal Laura Lemke said. “At that time, Fenton had changed to Powerschool three years prior and were not ready to make another change. The advantage to waiting is that we are getting more individualized help from the GISD in making the transition than we would have if we made the transition with all of the other 21 school districts.”
