Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Portal is your "one-stop-shop" for your files, educational tools, and websites where you can easily access your learning materials. Once you are logged into the portal, it will automatically log you into your other resources. Another benefit is that you don't need to remember the URLs to other resources.

Please watch our YouTube video on the NISD Portal here and access your portal at portal.nisdtx.org

If you’d like mobile access to your email, use the following instructions to get your NISD email connected on your iPad, iPhone, or Android device.

iPhone or iPad

Android

Before you update your iPad, please make sure you have an up-to-date backup of your iPad. The resources listed below will help you decide which backup method is best for you and will support you with learning more about backing up your iPad.

• Use Apple or Google Drive instructions to back up your iPad.

Once you have backed up your iPad, the instructions listed below will guide you through the steps necessary to reset your iPad as well as set up your iPad through the NISD Mobile Device Management System, InTune. If you experience any issues with resetting your iPad please put in a HelpDesk ticket at helpdesk.nisdtx.org.

• Follow these instructions and FAQs for setting up your NISD iPad for InTune mobile device management.

  • Please Note: These instructions do not apply to SPED iPads.

• Review this video to learn how to download apps from the Intune company portal.

• Visit this Mobile Educator page of ITresources.nisdt.org or contact your campus instructional technologist to learn more about leveraging your iPad to become a mobile educator.

Due to federal CIPA requirements for education filtering, you will be required to install our security certificate in order to browse to websites protected by https using NISD internet. Follow these instructions to install the appropriate certificate to your personal device.

In some cases, modern cell phones will attempt to use the weaker outdoor signal making it seem like the cell booster in not operating properly. You can take advantage of the boosted signal within your building by following these instructions to adjust your cell phone setting.

Boosters are only available at the following locations:

• Curtis

• Justin

• Wilson

• Legacy Learning Center

• Central Office

All password reset instructions can be found here.

For principals, teachers, and staff:

1. Dial your district phone number.

2. Once your voicemail picks up press *

3. You will hear “Enter your ID (extension of your district phone) Followed by #”

4. You will hear “Enter your pin followed by #”

5. Press 2 to access your mailbox

6. At this point you have accessed your mailbox. Go ahead and press # followed by a * to cancel the submenu

7. Press 4 for setup options. At this point you will hear the option to change your voicemail greeting

If the campus voicemail only needs to be changed:

1. Campus principal sends an audio recording to [email protected]

Northwest ISd has purchased Zoom for all educators. You can access Zoom straight from the portal at portal.nisdtx.org. If you are new to Zoom or need some tutorials on joining, scheduling, or hosting a meeting, check out Instructional Technology's resources on Zoom here, or visit the Zoom Help Center here. You can also reach out directly to your campus Instructional Technologist for support. If you are using Zoom to connect with students, please be aware of the recommendations on video conferencing with students released by NISD legal counsel on 3/27/20.

The below information on Zoom security is included in an FAQ on the Student and Parent Technology Help site. If you have parents concerned with Zoom security you may use the below wording or direct them to this site:

Northwest ISD takes digital security and privacy very seriously and we have taken steps to use Zoom with these in mind. In order to better inform our educators about the use of this tool our legal counsel and instructional technology team joined together and sent out both a legal FAQ and an infographic regarding settings to use in order to best protect students through use of the program’s settings. These considerations include:

- Don't post the link publicly

- Require a password when setting up conferences

- Change the settings that require permission to share screens

- Enable the waiting room for admitting others

All of these settings, among others, are ones controlled by the meeting host. There is nothing you need to do on your end from a technical standpoint in order to increase safety and security. From a digital citizenship standpoint, the best thing you can do is be present when your student is joining a meeting so you can monitor their online interactions and intercede if you feel it necessary. We understand this may not always be an option for all parents, which is why we have taken the steps above to educate our staff for the protection of our students.

For more information on Zoom security, visit Zoom's security page. Zoom keeps privacy and security top of mind for all end users. Find additional resources and features on how Zoom secures data and protects user privacy here.

eSchool Plus (NOT Teacher Access Center) and eFinance are more secure products that require the use of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). If you need to access those sites, you can join the VPN by clicking here to see instructions.

There are two different methodologies to access your district network drives:

• You can access the files on your network drives on the NISD Portal. Please click here to see instructions.

• You can access a personal virtual desktop computer. Please click here to see instructions. (Requires VPN connection to access)

All phones

1. Dial *67 before the phone number you are calling. (ex. *67 817-215-8000)

2. Place call.

Apple iOS

1. Open your iPhone's Settings app.

2. Click on Phone settings.

3. Click "Show My Caller ID"

4. Toggle the on/off button for "Show My Caller ID" to off/white

Android

1. Open the Phone app.

2. Open the Menu.

3. Select Settings.

4. Click on Call settings.

5. Click on Additional settings.

6. Click on Caller ID.

7. Choose “Hide number” and your number will be hidden.

8. Choose “Show number” or “Network default” to resume showing your number.

If you would like to make/use a Google Voice number in place of blocking your number, please check the next question.

Voicemails are emailed to your work email address. Beginning March 26, 2020, all staff members should be receiving their voicemail in their work email inbox.

If you are not receiving your voicemails via email, please create a helpdesk ticket.

Typically the receptionist, but that could be different if a principal asked for someone different. If you need to change who that person is, please put in a helpdesk.

You can email items to students at the same time you email them to parents, or vice versa.

Each student in the district has a district generated email address through Gmail that is the same as their district username followed by @student.nisdtx.org. Students can login to their email through the NISD Portal, by clicking on Gmail icon on their Chromebook, or by navigating directly to Gmail and logging in with their district email. Student email and password credentials will be initially issued to students as:

• Email: [email protected]

• Password: FL123456 (first and last initial; capitalized + Student ID#)

For example, if a student's name was "John Smith" their email and password would be [email protected] and JS123456

• Northwest ISD requires you to increase the security of your logins by enabling Multi-factor Authentication using DUO. This modern access security is designed to safeguard all users, devices, and applications — so you can stay focused on what you do best. Click here for step by step instructions on how to setup multi-factor authentication!

• Change your password on a regular basis using STRONG and VARIED passwords

• Make sure your virus protection software is up-to-date

If you are looking for educator resources for digital tools such as Lexia, Imagine Math, Google Classroom, Moodle, and many more, you can see all of these on the Instructional Technology Resource site at ITresources.nisdtx.org. Many of these tools can be found and accessed in your portal at portal.nisdtx.org, and if you need help with them feel free to reach out to your campus Instructional Technologist for assistance.

Can I Buy This? - Resource Purchasing Steps for NISD Staff

When establishing initial contact with a vendor or provider of a digital platform, digital textbook, digital materials, or other digital resources, these “make or break” questions will let you know if the resource can be used in NISD.

We have a Technology Standards Page that will assist you in purchasing technology equipment.

Technology Requisition Procedures

Please refer to the technology offboarding checklist

• Student contacts: All student contacts are synced from eSchool. If they need to be updated, the parent/guardian should contact the front office and update it that way. It will take a day to sync back with ParentSquare.

• Non-parents/guardians receiving notifications: Only parents and guardians receive notifications, because the information being shared can be private and protected. We cannot make an emergency contact a parent or guardian in ParentSquare. If they are entitled to that, they’ll need to work through the school and also get it updated in eSchool.

• Any data questions: Data takes at least a day to be synced, so if a change was just made, the submitter will just need to wait until the next day for it to take effect. That includes students being added to classes or classes changing in some way.

• Unsubscribing: Parents/guardians can turn off notifications by logging in, clicking on their name in the top right, going to “My Account,” then “Notification Settings.” They can turn everything off if they want.

For additional support please enter a helpdesk ticket.