HGS Plus

The Academic Calendar, closures, technical support, and student photos

Schedule, Calendar, and Announcements

The Governor's School uses several sites and tools to communicate academic schedule, closures, and announcements to students. The sites used include the HGS web site main page as well as the site announcement page, Twitter, and the Virtual School site, also known as Canvas.

The academic schedule and holiday closing schedule are subject to change due to weather related events and other events that may occur during the school year. Therefore, schedule information for students is updated throughout the year as needed. Thus, students should regularly check HGS information sites (as shown in the video that follows) for updates, additions, and/or changes.

The orientation video below covers accessing the HGS calendar and other information venues for students. Please watch the short orientation video now.



HGS Technical Support

The Governor's School Information Technology Services (ITS) offers technical support for those using HGS software services: virtual school (i.e., Canvas), the virtual classroom (i.e., Jigsaw), and HGS email. A support web site is available and can be reached under the SUPPORT menu option of the school's home page. There one may find a FAQ page, ITS contact information, the latest ITS announcements, and access to the ITS Help Desk Ticket. The Help Desk Ticket is a form tool for use by students for notification of HGS of student technical problems. (Please Note: When using the Help Desk Ticket form, allow a minimum of one business day for a reply. Please check the junk email folder for the reply if a reply is not in the "regular" in-box folder. Some email systems treat academic origination emails as junk by default.)

Unfortunately HGS ITS cannot offer support for home computers, home INTERNET connection problems, and/or for school based or school issued (e.g., chromebooks) hardware. For support of school based or school issued hardware, please see the technical support person at the school. HGS ITS can offer help if a student is having difficulty locating the technical professional within their school system.

For support of HGS class specific software, please contact the class instructor. If the class instructor cannot solve the problem/answer the question, they will refer the problem/question to ITS, who will then contact the student for problem resolution.

For a review of the support offered as described above, and much more, please watch the technical support orientation video below.



Student Photo Requirement

Each student MUST SUBMIT a recent portrait-type photograph. The photo will be used in the student's HGS Virtual Classroom account, during a HGS Virtual School session, and in their HGS email account. The composition of the photograph must be similar to what is shown in the layout example below.

The photograph file must meet the following requirements:

  • NOT A SELFIE (have someone else hold the phone)
  • have a layout like the example image above
  • portrait must occupy no more than half of the image, like above example
  • clean, distraction free background
  • jpeg photo file format
  • minimum image size of 500X500 pixels
  • minimum image file size of 350KB
  • sent as an attachment to an email, not embedded within the email body

The photo must be emailed as an attachment to HGS Information Technology Services: support@hgs.k12.va.us, email subject line: Class Photo: student full legal name. Failure to submit a photo before the end of the second week of class may result in the closing of the student's HGS accounts. (Having difficulty fulfilling the photo requirement for some/any reason? Please contact HGS Technical Support: support@hgs.k12.va.us)

Complete Remaining Tasks

After reviewing all of HGS Plus orientation, please return to the Student Orientation Home page and complete all remaining orientation tasks. In addition to completing HGS Plus orientation, Step 6, each student must complete