ParentSquare: Staff FAQs & Tips for Teachers

It's incredibly quick and easy to create a Conference Sign-Up Post in ParentSquare. After setting up your list of available dates and times, you can manually remove any time slots you’d like to keep open for breaks. Once your schedule is finalized, you can either print your sign-up sheet or send a new notification to families.

You can also add collaborators—such as your front office staff or principal—after the post has been scheduled to send allowing them to view your post and scheduled conferences.

Collaborators: To view the post, select Posts → All School → All Classes from the dropdown menu under your name. Scroll to find the staff member post.

In the left-hand navigation menu of the training page, you’ll find additional helpful options, such as viewing appointment activity logs and managing notifications. Teacher can also manually add a guardian to a specific time slot. The teacher can disable sign-ups at any time to prevent further appointments.

Step-by-step guide for families: Parents: How to Sign Up for an Appointment or Conference.

What are Forms and Permission Slips?

Need a field trip form signed? Would you like to confirm that a parent has reviewed the student handbook? It’s now easier than ever by using ParentSquare Forms & Permission Slips!

Teachers and staff, you can now send forms to families and get them signed and returned digitally, in just minutes in ParentSquare. You can also easily track responses and resend forms to families who may have missed them.

Using Forms/Permission Slips in Posts: 

• A step-by-step guide: This video also covers form options and demonstrates how parents interact with forms
• Post Add-ons: forms or permission slips
• Send a reminder to families to sign or complete a form (Follow up with those who haven't yet filled out a form)
• View forms report
• Ready-to-use ParentSquare templates (edit and use)
• Forms repository 
   

Note: Parents/guardians must log in and be registered in ParentSquare to complete and sign a form. If parents/guardians have not registered their account, they will be prompted to do so before completing the form. See Family ParentSquare FAQ’s for more information.  

How to Create Translated Forms/Permission Slips
Unlike posts, which are automatically sent in each user's preferred language within ParentSquare, forms are sent in English by default. However, you can easily add translations to better connect with families in their preferred language.

When creating a form or permission slip in ParentSquare, teachers can select translation options to ensure all families receive the necessary information. Forms created at the district level (outside of the ParentSquare platform) will automatically be available in all supported languages.

• Learn how to translate your forms and permission slips 
   

Additional ParentSquare Form and Permission Slip FAQ’s:

• Digitizing existing forms
• Printing forms/permission slips
• Editing sent forms and more here

Parents/guardians will receive an activation email for their ParentSquare accounts. Those who do not register will still receive text, email and phone notifications. Parents who do create an account can become more actively engaged in communication by appreciating posts, viewing photos, leaving comments and managing their communication preferences. As a staff member or teacher, you may choose to communicate with your families utilizing ParentSquare. You may find with the two-way messaging and live-time translation that you're able to reach more families. You also may find the analytics about who isn't receiving messages helpful.

Example: An English-speaking teacher wants to send a message to a student's parent, letting them know that the student went out of their way to help another classmate. Synergy has the home language listed as Spanish, and the teacher is aware that the parent does not speak English. Using ParentSquare, the teacher types the text message to the parent in English and presses send. ParentSquare, using advanced Google translate, translates the message into Spanish so that the parent receives the message in Spanish. The parent then thanks the teacher for letting them know about the student's kindness. The parent types that thank you message in Spanish and presses send. ParentSquare translates the message into English and the teacher receives the message in English.
 

• View the visual example on ParentSquare's blog

The advanced Google translation tool uses context-driven translation for higher accuracy and can translate into 100+ languages. A disclaimer about the auto-translation tool is included on messages.

Yes. You can set office hours for messages.

It's likely that you'll have two separate accounts: a parent account with a personal email and a staff account with your school email. Once we launch, we can merge your staff and parent account so that you have access to your children and school under one single account. Please email support@parentsquare.com and include the emails and phone numbers that you're using. You can also check out this ParentSquare resource on how to merge accounts.

Yes. If you'd like to add a room parent to your class, please visit Admin > Classes. From this page, click "Add User" and type in the name of the individual whom you would like to add. Click on the name to highlight it and then select the role that you'd like that person to have: room parent or assistant/other.
 

• Here is a help article on assigning a room parent to a class

Teachers have the ability to create groups with students who aren't in their class. Please visit Groups > New Group > New Static Group. From there, 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 names of the individuals that you'd like to add. When you're finished, click "Save" at the bottom.
 

• Here is a help article on creating a group

If you'd like to contact a few of your parents without posting to the entire class, 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 names in the recipient field, and they'll 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.
 

•  Here is a help article on direct messaging

ParentSquare offers the capability to ask for both parent volunteers and items. Go to “New Post” and create a post about your class project. Then in the left sidebar, select both "Ask for Items" and "Request Volunteers." Next, input the items and amount you need, as well as how many volunteers you need and what activities they'll be doing. Once you're finished, click "Post Now" and watch your sign-up fill up.
 

• Here is a help article on creating signups and volunteer listsOpening in a new window 
   

This ParentSquare volunteer function provides some overlap with our current volunteer management system, HelpCounter. While parents/guardians can sign up through ParentSquare, you'll need to instruct them that they're required to be an approved volunteer with a completed background check in HelpCounter. During school hours, volunteers will be required to sign in and out of activities on the volunteer computer located in the school's front office. You're free to not utilize the ParentSquare volunteer function and continue using HelpCounter, if you wish.  Please contact the school volunteer coordinator if you have questions about adding your activities to Better Impact.
 

• Complete the HelpCounter online Volunteer application NOW

Yes. If you have parents/guardians who have contacted you about a sign-up but have not signed up in ParentSquare, you can add these users manually. Login to ParentSquare and go to the sign-up post that you'd like to add the parent to. Then, on the sign-up post, click "Add Someone" above the sign-up button next to the time slot or item you'd like to sign them up for. Search for the user, highlight the name and click save!

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 that you chose and select the classes and groups that you'd like to hold the conferences for.
 

• Here is a help article on conference sign ups

Yes. You're still able to use Seesaw, Canvas and ParentVUE to communicate with parents/guardians. However, you may find that you get more engagement with non-English speaking families through ParentSquare due to the live-time translation feature. You also may simply copy and paste messages sent in Seesaw or Canvas into ParentSquare to take advantage of the translation. Other districts that have implemented ParentSquare have found that parents appreciate having one place to go for communications and have seen increased engagement as a result.