Frequently Asked Questions

McCyber is a platform that supports student who, for many reasons, may prefer an online learning environment over an in-school learning environment. The global pandemic has led to a number of families desiring a full virtual option for their children for learning. Students can work asynchronously, completing their daily learning largely at their own pace while still having support from McGuffey.

Yes! This is one of the great benefits of McCyber! Your student remains a full-fledged McGuffey student, with access to PTO events, relevant field trips, placement in the yearbook, extracurricular events, etc.

There are many people willing to help you navigate your McCyber experience! The students in K-5 have all been assigned a McGuffey Teacher Facilitator to serve as a go-between with Lincoln and students/families. All K-12 students are still assigned to their McGuffey guidance counselor for support. McGuffey has a technology help desk, as does IU1 Fusion. The administrators can also assist or point you in the direction of the person who can. All of the contact info can be found on this page: Contact Information

Please contact the office at your child's school building. The secretaries can assist you in changing your learning mode. Once they have your updated information, the school will follow up with you with your account information for logging in to view your courses. In some cases, your child's guidance counselor will be able to fully enroll your child into their Fusion courses without needing to contact you. In other cases, your counselor may reach out to discuss course options as needed. The deadline for changing modes at the beginning of the year is 9/7/21. If your child is in Special Services, please contact the Special Services department or their Case Manager to discuss your needs.

Students in grades K-5 will follow the McGuffey School District academic calendar for the year. Their first day to log in will be Thursday, August 27, 2020.

Students in grades 6-12 will follow the IU1 Fusion academic calendar. Their first day to log in will be Tuesday, September 7, 2021.

For the most part, learning takes place asynchronously, meaning it is not held in live sessions. This gives students maximum flexibility in their learning. There may be some cases where students experience synchronous learning, and we hope to create more of those experiences as we continue to build McCyber.

Students participating in McCyber must have regular access to reliable high-speed internet to be able to successfully participate in the program. The district will provide every student with a Chromebook. For families who do not have internet, but do have cellular service, McGuffey is currently able to offer a MiFi Jet Pack to help provide internet connectivity for learning. We are also working on setting up relationships with community partners to increase community wireless hotspots throughout the school district. If you are using a device your family owns such as a laptop, we recommend using Chrome as your browser for McCyber. We do not recommend trying to complete your schooling on a smartphone. If you cannot regularly access high-speed internet, McCyber will not work for you as a learning option.

We encourage families to commit to a learning option at least for one term (quarter) at a time, if not a semester. In other words, if you start the year off in McCyber, we'd like to you to stick it out to the end of Quarter 1 if possible (Semester 1 is even better!). However, we understand situations may change and you may want to explore a change earlier. If that happens, please contact your child's school building administrator or counselor to discuss options. Again, we believe it's important to not shift students back and forth between the different learning environments as much as possible. If your child is in Special Services, please contact their department or your Case Manager to discuss any needs.

McCyber is a learning option at no additional expense to McGuffey parents. The district saves a significant amount of money when parents choose McCyber over an outside cyber charter school, keeping our tax dollars close to home. That money can then go back into McGuffey educational programming for our students rather than going to outside organizations.

All McGuffey students have access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft Office products through Office 365. Just go to https://www.office.com and sign in with your McGuffey email and password.

There's not a straight yes or no answer to this question. The K-5 students will have more interaction with a McGuffey teacher than our 6-12 students will initially. All students will be taught in courses designed by Pennsylvania-certified educators. For the most part, students will not have a McGuffey teacher at this time. We hope that will change as we continue to grow our McCyber course offerings.

First, to log into your Chromebook you'll need to use your child's McGuffey student email account. It's the two numbers that make up your child's graduation year, followed by the first four letters of their last name, and the first four letters of their first name. For example, John Smith, a kindergartener graduating in 2033, would be 33smitjohn@mcguffey.k12.pa.us. The password is your child's lunch account number.

For K-5 students, once you've logged into your Chromebook, you'll then go to the Pulse/Buzz link (https://pulse.llsapps.org) and use that same username "33smitjohn" (all lower case) without the @mcguffey.k12.pa.us part. The password is your child's lunch account number.

Sometimes different sites can be glitchy, so if you're doing everything above correctly and it's still not working, try waiting 10 minutes or so and giving it another try. If that doesn't work, please put in a Help Ticket with McGStudentHelpDesk@mcguffey.k12.pa.us

The learning activities are designed to be able to be completed without much in the way of physical materials. Our K-5 students will have supply lists in their courses, but many of them are standard household items and traditional back-to-school supplies. Parents should check those supply lists once their child is logged in to their classes. Parents will want to either have a printer for certain activities or purchase a physical copy of the workbook from Lincoln Learning. For 6-12, there may be some need for basic supplies, but these courses are currently designed to be light on supplies.

Yes! Because each child's needs are uniquely defined in their IEP, it's important to be in close communication with our Special Services Office if you are considering this decision. They can work with you on what that may look like and what services can and cannot be offered virtually. All students with IEPs will still be assigned a Case Manager, just like in the traditional school setting.

Yes, students in McCyber remain full McGuffey students. They are subject to the same Board policies, Student Code of Conduct, and district handbook regulations as students in our buildings. The student handbooks will contain an addendum addressing McCyber for primary/secondary.

Yes! Students fall under the same requirements for academic eligibility, good conduct, health requirements, etc. They are eligible for field trips (relevant to their grade/subject), PTO events, dances, clubs, etc.