Q: I am both a staff member and a parent in the district. How can I add my child to my staff account?
It is likely that you have two separate accounts: a parent account with a personal email and a staff account with your school email. Youcan merge your staff and parent account so that you have access to your children and school under one single account. See 'Multiple Accounts? Merge Them Together' under Support for Parents for the steps to get this done.
Q: Can I still use Seesaw, Dojo, or Remind or similar tools to communicate with parents/guardians?
No. The district does not hold contracts with these vendors. ParentSquare provides parents with one place to go for communications. This has a proven resultofincreased familial engagement. Additionally, using ParentSquare, you may find that you get more engagement with non-English speaking families due to the live-time translation feature.
Q: Do I need to let parents/guardians know about ParentSquare?
No. Parents/guardians will receive an activation email for their ParentSquare accounts. Those who do not activate their account will still receive an email digest.
Q: How are rosters populated in ParentSquare?
ParentSquare syncs with Skyward on a nightly basis. Any rosters that you are associated with in Skywardwill automatically show up in ParentSquare.
Q: Do all students have ParentSquare messaging?
No. Students in grades PK-4 do not have email addresses, therefore they do not have access to ParentSquare.
Students in grades 5-12 have access to message their teachers, coaches and club sponsors in ParentSquare and can receive communications.
Q: Can I add a room parent or classroom assistant to my class?
FromAdmin,selectClassesunder Data Assistant.
Clickaction menu (three dots)next to the class and chooseEdit ClassorManage Class Staff.
Edit Classgives you the option to edit the classNameand thenSave.
Manage Class Staffallows you to add other Teachers, Room Parents, or Assistants. ClickAdd Row, fill out details and clickSave.
Q: I am in charge of a club or sport, can I communicate with just those parentseven if their children are not in my class?
Teachers have the ability to create groups with students who are not in their class.
Please visit Groups > New Group > New Static Group. From here you can create the group and choose a name and description for your group, as well as whether or not you want the group to be public or private. At the bottom, you can add your members by searching for them and checking the box next to the name of the individuals you would like to add. When you are finished click 'Save'at the bottom.
Q: Is it possible to contact a few of my students' parents privately?
If you would like to contact a few of your parents without posting to the entire class, please use the messaging feature. Select "Messaging" from the left sidebar on the homepage. Here, you can select either a single parent to message, or multiple parents. Just begin typing their name in the recipient field, and they will appear as an option.
If you select more than one recipient, the choice will come up to have a private message or a group message. A private message will create individual threads to each recipient, whereas a group message will create one thread where all recipients can communicate.
Q:I am doing a project in my class and I need parent volunteers and items for our project. Can I ask for these on ParentSquare?
ParentSquare offers the capability to ask for both parent volunteers and items. Please go to “New Post” and create a post about your class project. Then, in the left sidebar you can select"Ask for Items" and/or "Request Volunteers."
Next, input the items and amount you need, as well as how many volunteers you need and what activities they will be doing. Once you are finished, click "Post Now" and watch your sign up fill up.
Q: Can I manually add a parent to a specific sign up?
Yes, if you have parents who have contacted you about a sign up but have not signed up in ParentSquare, you can add these users manually. Please login to ParentSquare and go to the signup post you would like to add the parent to. Then, on the sign up post please click "add someone" above the sign up button next to the time slot or item you would like to sign them up for. Search for the user, highlight their name and click save!
Q:How do I create conference sign ups for multiple classes and/or groups?
Go to Add-Ons > Conference Sign Ups and on the first page of the conference sign up, select any class to start. Go through and input the information according to your preferences, deleting any time slots that don't work for you. Finally on the third page, you can delete the original class you chose, and select the classes and groups that you would like to hold the conferences for. Consult thisarticle on conference sign ups for more information.
