How Do I...
Access School Mail?
What Do I Need To Know About Email at GaVS?
- Why is it necessary that I use my school email? I already have an email I use and I like it.
Good question. The Georgia Virtual School (GaVS) very carefully follows a federal law - the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) - which is designed in part to make sure your school records and information stay private. In order to do this, we keep things related to your school information in an email account that we can exert some control over. - What should I use my GaVS account for?
You should use your GaVS account for all school business. That means emailing your teacher, your fellow students, or any administrator at GaVS should be done only with your GaVS account. - What if I cannot access my GaVS account?
If that happens, you can use your outside email to alert us to the problem (phone works too), but do not discuss specific class information, just your access issue. - What service is my GaVS email run through?
The email is provided by GaVS but serviced by Google through the GMail site. - Can I have my email sent to my phone, tablet, or other mobile device?
Yes. The GMail application will work with your GaVS email account, as will the iPhone and Android basic mail applications and desktop/laptop programs like Outlook. - What if I already have a GMail account?
You can have more than one email account through their site, their app, and any other Google service. You can even be signed in to more than one at the same time. More on this later. - What are rules for the school mail?
The school mail should not be used to email anyone outside of school. The school mail should only be used for official school-related business. The school mail should not be used for bullying, harassment, or transmission of inappropriate language, images, or files. You are advised that anything sent over email (any email) should be assumed to be "out there" forever, and therefore you should think carefully before sending any email - especially if you are angry or upset. A good rule of thumb if you are upset when you write an email is to wait an hour after you compose it before you send, but that's just advice, not a rule. For any other rules - this is not a complete list - see the current student handbook.
So How Do I Get To It?
There are two different sets of email on the GaVS site. That's confusing and annoying - we know. It's not intentional and we're working on it. There is an internal email system in the D2L learning platform. It shows up on the school page as a gray envelope with an arrow under it (see above where it says "pager and old email"). That used to be what we used for email in GaVS, but it was really a pain, so we have moved on. The only thing that's used for at this point is receipts from dropbox submissions.
If you click that envelope it will pull down showing the pager and the "email". Unless you only want to view your dropbox receipts, don't use the email. The pager isn't a very good way to reach your teachers or classmates either. Since the new email system allows for mail to be sent to phones and tablets, the quickest way to get the attention of a teacher is almost certainly email or phone (please follow teacher hours for phone usage).
The new and current email for GaVS can be accessed from the white envelope icon with the red "M" shape on it (the GMail logo) located in the green bar (see "School Email" in the picture above).
What if it just shows me my regular GMail when I click there?
As stated before, you can login to more than one GMail-serviced account at the same time. If you are already logged in to another GMail account, and want to add your school account, follow these picture steps:
If you click that envelope it will pull down showing the pager and the "email". Unless you only want to view your dropbox receipts, don't use the email. The pager isn't a very good way to reach your teachers or classmates either. Since the new email system allows for mail to be sent to phones and tablets, the quickest way to get the attention of a teacher is almost certainly email or phone (please follow teacher hours for phone usage).
The new and current email for GaVS can be accessed from the white envelope icon with the red "M" shape on it (the GMail logo) located in the green bar (see "School Email" in the picture above).
What if it just shows me my regular GMail when I click there?
As stated before, you can login to more than one GMail-serviced account at the same time. If you are already logged in to another GMail account, and want to add your school account, follow these picture steps:
Adding Accounts
When you're logged into GMail, click on your name or email in the upper right corner. Select "Add Account" from the dropdown menu that appears.
Logging In
Under Email, enter your GaVS email address (not just your username). Your GaVS email address is username@gavirtualschool.org (do not write username - replace that with your actual GaVS username). Your password is the same as your GaVS password, but Google requires passwords to be at least 8 characters long. If your password doesn't meet Google's standards, it won't let you log in.
GMail Main Sign In
You can also access this without going through the school site or another GMail account simply by going to https://gmail.com/
What about linking the account to the school site?
You can (and should) link your school email to the school site. There are detailed instructions for this on the classroom bulletin board for all classes (image show below). Please note that it links an account through GMail, but you don't want an outside GMail account linked through school (that's not helpful at all). You want to link your school email. It will then tell you on both "My Home" and any course homepage whether you have new mail and preview it for you on "My Home".