Beginning of School Year Help – Administrator Checklist
Use this checklist after annual rollover processing and rollover cleanup are complete. It covers the administrative work needed to start the new school year, including user accounts, calendar setup, student data review, and students whose special education participation begins in the new school year.
If records still need to be found, manually rolled over, transferred into the expected scope, or reviewed as Pending, return to After Rollover – Record Processing & Cleanup.
1. Review User Accounts & Staff Changes
Confirm that staff who need SIRAS access for the new school year have the correct accounts and that staff who have left no longer have access.
- Create accounts for genuinely new SIRAS users.
- Before creating a new account, check whether the employee already has a SIRAS account from another district.
- If an existing account needs to move to your district, do not create a duplicate account. Contact [email protected] to have the existing account transferred.
- For staff who have left, follow When Staff Leave to block access and reassign or remove student assignments.
- Review roles and permissions for staff whose responsibilities changed for the new school year.
Duplicate accounts create confusion for users and additional cleanup for district and SIRAS staff. Always check for an existing SIRAS account before creating a replacement.
2. Set Up School-Year Calendar Events
Review the administrative calendar setup for the new school year.
- Go to Tools > SELPA/District/School Admin.
- Create or confirm the school-year calendar events needed for your organization.
- Include school holidays and progress-report dates as appropriate.
3. Complete Beginning-of-Year Student Data Review
Once rollover cleanup is complete and records are in the correct scopes, perform a broader beginning-of-year data review.
- Review records with meetings that are still open or require follow-up. Use Meeting Reports when appropriate.
- Review any remaining Pending records and confirm that each record has the appropriate status.
- Confirm case manager and provider assignments are complete.
- Review no-shows and confirm District Attending and School Attending information.
- Perform beginning-of-year Data Monitoring and compliance checks.
- Review records with services that ended unexpectedly or significantly before the current school year and investigate as appropriate.
Use After Rollover – Record Processing & Cleanup rather than treating missed-rollover records as ordinary beginning-of-year cleanup.
4. Students Evaluated Last Year Who Begin Services This Fall
Some students were evaluated during the prior school year but begin special education participation in the new school year. When the student actually starts:
- Find the candidate records.
- Review and correct the MIS Summary information.
- Confirm the District Enrollment Date is entered.
- Make the record Active when participation begins.
- Archive the appropriate transaction so the new SWDS 1 status can be reported to CALPADS.
5. Transition Into Fall 1 Preparation
After beginning-of-year setup and data review are complete, transition into the Fall 1 reporting cycle.
- Continue routine data monitoring and resolve issues identified during beginning-of-year review.
- Confirm student enrollment, special education status, and assignments are current before Fall 1 preparation begins.
- Use the dedicated Fall 1 guidance rather than duplicating Fall 1 procedures in this checklist.
