Technology Overview
Welcome to Newburyport Public Schools!
Newburyport Public Schools is a Google Suite for Education district. You have access to all of the tools provided in G Suite, including Gmail for your school email, Google Classroom, Google Meet, and many others. Whenever possible, you are encouraged to use these tools with staff and students. You can find information and training on Google's Teacher Center.
Students all have access to the G Suite as well, providing them with the same tools available to you, with some exceptions. For example, the district decided to not grant access to email for students in K-4th grade.
We use a Single Sign-On (SSO) service for school accounts, which syncs usernames and passwords across multiple applications throughout the district. In effect, you have a single account for most services, with some exceptions. For example, your computer login, G Suite, Destiny, and Microsoft Office 365 all use the same account information.
First Day
After you arrive and get settled, please log into your new account. Traditionally, your username is your first initial and last name. For example, John Smith’s username would be jsmith. For this initial login, your password is identical to your username. When you log in, you will see a message telling you to change your password. It's entirely your choice, but please choose a password that is secure and can not be guessed. Your account is vulnerable to the whole world and the only thing securing it is your password. We recommend you visit How Secure Is My Password? and check how long it would take a standard desktop computer to crack what you've chosen.
After completing the following steps, in G Suite, you can also turn on “two step verification.” This will send you a text message every time a new computer tries to access your account, giving you the opportunity to deny it.
If you're logging into a PC in one of the school buildings, please open Google Chrome and go to our SSO sign-in page for the next step: sso.newburyport.k12.ma.us
If you're logging into a Chromebook, the next step is an automatic prompt.
You will see a welcome message from our SSO portal that asks you to enter a secondary email and choose a security question and answer. Providing this information allows you to reset your password and unlock your account yourself. Your secondary email should be a personal account you have access to.
After you enter a secondary email and choose a security question, click on Create My Account. Next, you will be prompted by Google to agree to their terms & conditions for G Suite. Once you accept, you will be redirected to Google Drive and your account will be all set and ready to use.
If you are unable to access your account after it's been setup, you can unlock it or reset your password from any web browser using our SSO portal. Instructions are located on the How To Reset Your School Account Password page.
To make your day more productive we suggest you use Google Chrome as your default browser. If you sign into Chrome with your school Google account all of your bookmarks, saved passwords, extensions etc. are synced with your GSuite account. It will also negate the need to sign in every time you wish to check mail, calendars etc. If you choose to sign into chrome on a new device (ie home computer, laptop) all of your information will be brought down and synced across all devices.
Mailing Lists
To simplify communication each school has its own mail group. To send an email to everyone in a building, address an email to the group and all will receive it. The groups are:
Bresnahan: ftbstaff@newburyport.k12.ma.us
Molin: upperele@newburyport.k12.ma.us
Nock: middle@newburyport.k12.ma.us
High: high@newburyport.k12.ma.us
Central: central@newburyport.k12.ma.us
These groups can be used by anyone in the district but drop all mail from outside. For example, a teacher at the High School can email the Bresnahan School but a parent cannot use these lists. If an outside person/group wants to use these lists, they need to send an email to someone inside the district and have it forwarded. There are many groups setup by buildings, teachers admins that you can find in the…
Address Book
Every account in the district is in your address book. Begin typing the name in the “To” box and a search will begin. When you see the right account click on the name and the “To” box will be filled in.
Students are also present in the address book. To differentiate between students and teachers they have different domain names. All staff have accounts that end in @newburyport.k12.ma.us and all students end in @newburyportschools.com. Also MOST (not all) student account names end with the year of graduation. John Smith’s as a student would have an account similar to jsmith21@newburyportschools.com. When addressing emails look out for the domain name and that grad year.
Follett Aspen X2
For security purposes, usernames and passwords are maintained inside Aspen. There is no syncing between accounts. Usernames and passwords will be given out separately. To request info please use our Ticketing system.
How To Get Help
We have an automated ticketing system that will contact everyone in the tech department to ensure the fastest service. Emailing a technician directly can result in delays if the tech is out of the district, working on another problem etc. To get help please submit a ticket through our NPS Technology Helpdesk.
While you can submit a ticket without signing into our helpdesk, we recommend using the Google login option and signing in with your district email. This will allow you to track the status of your tickets, submit updates, etc, without anything getting lost in your inbox.
When submitting a ticket, please tell us what the issue is, being descriptive as possible. Include any error messages and any troubleshooting steps you might have performed. Also, include what room you are in and what time you are available for support. Submitting a ticket and then entering a parent meeting or leaving for a half day will result in the techs having to visit you more than once. To maximize our technician’s time we try to prevent as many return trips as possible.
Often we can fix problems remotely so even if you don’t see a technician keep an eye out for emails and messages from the helpdesk. They could be requests for more information, a request for you to perform a task such as rebooting the computer, or notification that your problem was solved.
If you need immediate support, our number is: 978-465-4440 ext. 5555. We do, however, recommend using our ticketing system in 99% of cases, as this will ensure the entire department sees your request and that it can be quickly directed to the right person.