News

The staff COVID-19 testing program launched Monday, October 11. A testing schedule was developed by MAKO Medical, which has handled COVID-19 diagnostic testing for HCPSS students and staff since April.

Staff who receive a test at an outside location must upload your results through PinPoint by using a unique link, which you can request by emailing communications@hcpss.org. This is a reminder that Saturday is the last day of the week to upload proof of testing.

As we progress through the school year, the schedule, including site locations and times, may adjust to meet changing demands. View the current testing procedures and schedule online.

Please note: This email only applies to staff undergoing the weekly testing program. If you uploaded proof of vaccination through the PinPoint VaccineCheck web platform, no further action is required.

Phishing attacks use email or malicious websites to infect your machine with malware and viruses to collect personal and financial information.

Play hard to get with strangers. Cyber criminals use phishing tactics, hoping to fool their victims. If you’re unsure who an email is from—even if the details appear accurate— or if the email looks ‘phishy,’ do not respond and do not click on any links or attachments found in that email. When in doubt, it’s best to proceed with cautious skepticism and report any suspicious emails to abuse@hcpss.org so that actions can be taken to block them before they arrive in your inbox.

! Call to Action !

• View the HCPSS “Spot a Phish” video to help “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart”
• View the HCPSS Phishing Attack FAQs and Learn more about Phishing on the Technology Resources Canvas community for more information.

If after reviewing the resources you have any questions, contact Technology Support at (410) 313-7004 option 4 or TechSupport@hcpss.org

This morning, October 14, some staff may have had an issue logging into Office 365, including email. The issue has been resolved. If you are still having trouble logging into Office 365, quit the browser and try again. 

We appreciate your patience and understanding. 

HCPSS has scheduled the following two technology outages: 
 
Thursday, October 14 from 5-6 p.m.
During this time, Synergy and Hoonuit will not be available for all users. Additionally, parents/guardians will not be able to access Canvas. However, students will be able to access Canvas. 
 
Saturday, October 16, 3 p.m. through Sunday, October 17, 11 a.m.
During this time, access to some HCPSS systems, such as Synergy, Hoonuit, Event Management System (EMS), and others will not be accessible. This outage will not impact systems hosted in the cloud including email, Google Drive, Workday and Frontline. Canvas will be accessible to staff and students but not to parents/guardians.
 
If you experience any system issues after this outage, please contact Technology Help Support at 410-313-7004 or TechSupport@hcpss.org.

The staff COVID-19 testing program launched Monday, October 11. A testing schedule was developed by MAKO Medical, which has handled COVID-19 diagnostic testing for HCPSS students and staff since April. 

As we progress through the school year, the schedule, including site locations and times, may adjust to meet changing demands. View the current testing procedures and schedule online. 

Updated 10/12/21 with link to updated testing schedule and additional updates

The staff COVID-19 testing program will launch Monday, October 11. A testing schedule was developed by MAKO Medical, which has handled COVID-19 diagnostic testing for HCPSS students and staff since April. 

Register for Weekly Testing Program
Employees who need to register for the staff testing program, should use this link for MAKO’s staff testing program, and follow these instructions:

• Select “Self-Registration” 
• Complete patient information fields:
  • Enter your employee ID number (capital E followed by 5 digits), which can be found when you login to Workday
  • Enter your hcpss.org email address
• Complete terms of acceptance and notifications consent options
• Select Submit

If needed, staff may register on-site at one of the testing locations identified below by scanning a QR code with a smartphone at the testing site and completing the registration form prior to being tested. 

Testing Procedure
At each testing location, MAKO staff will instruct those being tested to self-swab both nostrils, and place the swab into a collection tube. MAKO staff will label the tube with the staff member’s name and date of birth. The entire process takes less than two minutes. MAKO staff will not be administering the nasal-pharyngeal swab test that is inserted farther up the nostril.
 

Testing Schedule
Employees are expected to be tested at one of the locations below, or at any other public or private testing location and provide your results once per week. Staff do not have to be tested the same day each week as long as testing occurs once between Sunday and Saturday. 

• For staff who are tested at an HCPSS site, MAKO will securely upload your results to your employee record in PinPoint. 
• Staff who receive a test at an outside location must upload your results through PinPoint by using a unique link that you will receive from hcpss@pinpoint.us.
   

When selecting a testing time that occurs during student arrival and dismissal times, please factor in additional time due to potential traffic congestion in the parking lot.

You will not receive coverage for your classroom or job responsibilities in order to be tested so you must do so at times that you are available. 

Click here for an up-to-date testing schedule, which may be found on the HCPSS website.

The annual Benefits Open Enrollment period will be held October 11- November 5 and will not be extended. As a reminder, Open Enrollment is the annual time period in which benefit-eligible employees can make changes to their benefit elections. 

! Call to Action ! 

Employees should review their personal information, the benefits being offered by HCPSS, and the plans that they are enrolled in, to determine if they would like to make any changes.

Prior to Open Enrollment

HCPSS will continue to offer the same comprehensive benefits program, with changes to specialist co-pays across all medical plans, and to employer/employee premium contribution amounts. It is important that all employees review the Open Enrollment information below as it contains important changes that will occur in Plan Year 2022.

Details regarding Open Enrollment are posted online:
• Employee Benefits Page
• 2022 Open Enrollment Newsletter
• 2022 Benefits Enrollment Guide

During Open Enrollment

Beginning Monday, October 11, employees may enroll and/or make changes with the following steps:

1. Log in to Workday (Staff Hub > Services > Workday) using your Active Directory user name and password
2. Go to your Inbox and select the Open Enrollment task
3. Proceed with your enrollment

Please note that workday has a new layout this year for making benefit selections. All benefit categories have their own benefit tile, making it easier for employees to navigate and to enroll/make changes to benefit elections.

Virtual Benefits Fairs

Employees will have the opportunity to learn more about their benefit options by attending a virtual benefits fair. Carrier representatives and HCPSS Benefits Office staff will be available to virtually meet and provide information, and answer any benefit questions.

• Monday, October 18, 10:30 a.m.-noon; 1-4:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, October 26, 10:30 a.m.-noon; 1-4:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, November 3, 10:30 a.m.-noon; 1-4:30 p.m.

The Virtual Benefits Fairs can be access at the dates and times above by going to https://www.employeewellnesshub.com/hcpss/

*PLEASE NOTE: Anyone who accesses a virtual benefit fair will be redirected to a third-party website that is not managed or supported by HCPSS. Additionally, chat rooms are accessible to all HCPSS active employees and their families. These are not private or confidential sessions, so please be mindful of disclosing any personal information.  

Important Notes

• Open Enrollment will not be extended. The last day is Friday, November 5, 2021.
• Learn more about HCPSS Benefit offerings by visiting https://www.hcpss.org/employees/benefits.
• If you do not wish to make any changes to your medical, dental, vision, short-term disability, long-term disability, supplemental life, critical Illness, accident and/or whole life insurance benefits, your current benefits elections will rollover for Plan Year 2022.
• Your 2021 Healthcare/Dependent Care FSA election(s) will not carry over to Plan Year 2022. You must make a new election for the following benefits, if you choose to use them.
  • 2022 Healthcare Flexible Spending Account (FSA) - Annual maximum is $2750.
  • 2022 Dependent Care FSA - Annual maximum is $5000 per household.
• New medical cards will be issued for Plan Year 2022.

Questions?

The HCPSS Benefits Call Center is available Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. by calling 410-313-7333, option 1. You also may email questions to Benefits Office staff at benefits@hcpss.org.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. This month we will share messages and weekly themes of the importance of staying safe online. The first theme - Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart – encourages individuals and organizations to own their role in protecting their part of cyberspace, stressing personal accountability and the importance of taking proactive steps to enhance cybersecurity. HCPSS is committed to helping our staff and students become more resilient. 

! Call To Action!  Review the resources below to learn more about how you can stay safe online: 

• Securely working from home
• Ransomware information
• Scareware information
• Using Public Wi-Fi Networks
• Phishing Attacks
• Multi-Factor Authentication 
• Enhanced Security

If after reviewing any of the resources you have any questions, contact Technology Support at (410) 313-7004 option 4 or TechSupport@hcpss.org

Some Apple computer users are receiving the encryption certificate error below when using Chrome to access some websites, including www.hcpss.org.

! Workaround: If you receive this error message, use Firefox to access the site. Users are encouraged to not bypass the error message, as they may become victims of a malicious attack.

Please note, the HCPSS website certificate is up to date. The error is related to the age of the operating system and how the Chrome browser interacts with it.

For other non-HCPSS websites, using Firefox will help verify that the site is secure. If you receive the error message in Firefox, try updating the browser. If after updating Firefox you still receive the message, the site may not be secure and you are advised not to proceed.

If you have any questions, please contact Technology Support by emailing TechSupport@hcpss.org.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a security measure that requires users to enter multiple sources of authentication before granting access to an account. HCPSS staff can opt in to using MFA to protect their Microsoft Office 365 account, which includes apps such as email, Teams, Skype for Business, OneDrive and others. Other HCPSS applications are already protected by Enhanced Security.

To further bring awareness to staff members’ ability to opt-in to using MFA, staff will now see the below warning message when logging into Microsoft Office 365 if they are not enrolled.

Warning: Your account is not protected. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a security measure that requires users to enter multiple sources of authentication before granting access to an account. Please consider enrolling in MFA to protect your account.

Under the warning message are links for both “Enroll in MFA” and “Continue sign in.” Staff who wish to opt in to this security feature should select Enroll in MFA.

Learn more about MFA on the Technology Resources Canvas community. If after reviewing the resource you have any questions, contact Technology Support at (410) 313-7004 option 4 or TechSupport@hcpss.org