by Merry Dudley

The new school year is just around the corner. Since our traditional Open House plans have not yet been approved, I’ve created a list of things that families can do right now to make sure they are ready for that first week of school. All you need is your Skyward login—and if you don’t have that, just call the High School Office at (715) 824-5521, ext. 2. The office is staffed Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Students:

• Print your class schedule. Throw it in your backpack so you’re ready on the first day of school. If you have a hole in your schedule (other than fifth hour), email Mrs. Swanson (sswanson@amherst.k12.wi.us) before August 16 so she can look at your schedule and give you options before the first day of school.
• Write down your locker number and combination. Lockers are back! We realize you might not remember your locker number or combination. Did you know they are both available in Skyward Student Access? Just click on the Student Info tab.
• Download the Skyward app to your phone. Then get logged in to Skyward Student Access. You will need so many things from Skyward during the year that you should set it up now.
• Fill out your Parking Permit. If you will be driving to school during the 2021-22 school year, log in to Skyward Student Access, click on Online Forms, and complete the Parking Permit form. (The form is available for both students and parents, but only one person needs to fill it out.) The fee can be paid online by your parents, or you can bring $20 to the High School Office to receive your permit.

Parents:

• Fill out your student’s Online Registration. At least once a year, our families should verify their contact information, plus there are a few forms that you need to fill out. This year, everything has been combined in one area—just click on the Online Registration tab in Skyward Family Access and follow the prompts to verify Student, Family, and Emergency contact info, sign the Technology Acceptable Use & Field Trip Form, Chromebook Agreement, Military Opt-Out Form, and the optional 2021-22 Parking Permit Form. Details about this new procedure can be found later in this article.
• Pay your Fees. The Student Fee, Chromebook Fee, and any course fees (for Art classes) have already been assigned in Skyward, but athletic fees have not. Fall sports fees will be assigned after practice begins, but you can always add fees yourself in Skyward Family Access. Details about adding fees in Skyward can be found later in this article under Paying Fees Through Skyward.
• Fill out Athletic Forms. If you are interested in participating in sports during the 2021-22 school year, fill out the four forms located on our school website under Athletic. The forms are:
• Athletic Emergency Card 2021-22
• Co-Curricular Code & WIAA Eligibility 2021-22
• Concussion Acknowledgment 2021-22 – Student Athletes
• Concussion Acknowledgment 2021-22 – Parents
• Verify that your student-athlete is due for a physical. If your student hasn’t had a physical since April 1, 2020, then you’ll need to schedule a sports physical before the season begins. (Fall sports start in August; Winter sports start in October, Spring sports start in March/April.) We sent out reminder emails in June, but it’s a good idea to check your records, too. For your convenience, we have the Physical Form 2021-22 on our website with the other Athletic Forms. Fill it out and take it to your doctor appointment. The last page, once signed by a doctor, needs to be returned to the High School Office. The doctor can also fax it to us at (715) 824-5454.

Tips for Completing Online Registration

There are four forms that we need from each student, plus the 2021-22 Parking Permit form. We have combined everything together under Online Registration in Skyward Family Access. The good thing is that if your student is a sophomore, junior, or senior, your answers from last year have been populated into the form, which will make the whole process run even more quickly. If your student is a freshman this year, you’ll need to fill out all areas since our forms do not cross over from middle school to high school.

To begin, click on Online Registration and choose your student.

1a. Student Information. Please make sure everything looks correct under General Information. Under Technology at Home, please answer the five questions. If there are already answers there, please verify they are still correct. If something that is grayed out needs to be changed, please make a note to email or call the High School Office to fix. Once you are done, click on “Complete Step 1a Only” at the bottom of the page.

1b. Family Address. Please verify this information. You will not be able to make changes here, so if something is wrong, please email or call the High School Office. If your mailing address is the same as your address, then it is OK for the Mailing Address section to be blank. When you have verified the info, click on “Complete Step 1b Only” at the bottom of the page.

1c. Family Information. Here you can change telephone numbers and your home email. Once everything looks correct, click on “Complete Step 1c Only.”

1d. Emergency Contacts. Commonly, most of the information will be grayed out, but if not, please update the contact information for this student’s emergency contacts. You can also use the Delete This Emergency Contact link to remove someone from this student’s information. Use the Pick Up dropbox to give a person the right to pick up the student from school. When you are done, click on “Complete Step 1d Only.”

2. Technology Acceptable Use & Field Trip Form. If you completed this form last year, all of the fields should be filled in. Please scroll through the entire form to make sure everything looks correct, particularly the “Student AUP Result Selection,” which many people miss. If you want to restrict the photo, video, and newspaper coverage of your student, please fill out the large box under Parent/Guardian Agreement, but most people leave it blank. When you are done, click on “Complete Step 2 Only.”
3. Chromebook Agreement. All of the fields will be filled in if you completed this form correctly last year. When you are done, click “Complete Step 3 Only.”
4. Military Opt-Out Form. If you filled this out last year and your wishes have not changed, click “Complete Step 4 Only.”
5. 2021-22 Parking Permit Form. If your student will be driving to school at any time during the school year, they will need a completed Parking Permit form and a permit ticket to hang in their car window. If your student will not be driving, or you aren’t sure when or if they will be driving because they are not 16 yet, click on “I do not wish to fill out this optional form” at the top of the page. That will mark the form complete. You can always come back to this form at a later date, or your student can fill it out through Skyward Student Access at any time throughout the year. The fee of $20 can be paid through Skyward Family Access ($10 after first semester) or by bringing a check to the High School Office. If you have completed the form, click on “Complete Step 5 Only.”
6. Complete Online Registration. Here you can see if you have completed all of the steps. If you have not, the button at the bottom will be grayed out. Use the menu at the right to navigate back to a step you did not complete. If you need to edit something, the button at the bottom will say “Edit Step.” Use that to make changes and complete the form again by clicking on “Complete Step.” When you’ve done everything, you can go to the final screen, Step 6, and click on “Submit Online Registration.”

Paying Fees Through Skyward

Let’s say your student wants to be in Wrestling and you want to purchase a Yearbook. Go to Skyward Family Access and click on the Fee Management tab on the left side of the screen.

Find your student and click “Add a Fee.” You will see some general fees at the bottom of the page (Parking Fee and Yearbook) but no sports fees.

To add the Yearbook fee, click “Add” on the Yearbook line. But to find Wrestling, we have to do a bit more clicking.

Choose “Display Fees,” then click on “Display Unenrolled Activity Fees.” Now you should see all of the sports fees.

Scroll down to “Wrestling” and click “Add.” When you are finished adding fees, click on “Back.” Now you should see the fees assigned by the office (Student Fee and Chromebook Insurance), plus Yearbook and Wrestling.

If you want to pay through Skyward, click on “Make a Payment.” (If this is your first time doing online payments, you will have to create an initial login. After that, it will be a seamless transition from the informational part of Skyward to the fee management system.)

The system will then take you to the payment screen. Choose the fees you want to pay by clicking on “Add to Cart” next to each fee you want to pay for.

Remember, there is a $2 service charge per transaction, so it will be cheaper if you pay for everything at once rather than paying for each fee one at a time.

Open House

At press time, the district had not finalized plans for Open House. If you prefer to pay your fees with a check, the High School Office is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the summer, so feel free to stop by to drop off a check during those times and avoid a possible line!

Remember that Athletic Fees and Lunch Money must be paid with separate checks, but all other fees (Student Fee, Chromebook Insurance, Parking Fee, Yearbook, Art Classes) can be combined.

We do accept cash, but we recommend paying by check or online so it is very easy to track payments. Checks can be made out to TRSD.

A Word About Student Fees

The office gets a lot of questions about Student Fees and how they are used. This annual fee is used by the Tomorrow River School District to provide extra services to our students. First, $10 of the $25 fee goes to the class fund so there is money for events like Junior Prom, Senior Breakfast, and Senior Trip. (Any money left over in a class fund goes into an account after graduation so that class can use the money for reunions.)

Second, $7 goes to the District so students don’t have to pay admission for home sporting events (until playoffs), among other costs.

Third, $5 goes to the Activity Fees account to pay for such things as assemblies, speakers, and testing supplies and fees.

Finally, $3 goes to Student Council to finance all of the fun Homecoming Week events plus the dance, Spirit Week, Winter Formal, the Rose Sale, root beer floats, and more.