The SchoolWise Family form has undergone some significant changes and this document was created to help you make a smooth transition to the new format. Due to the limited capability of the old Family Form, we had to change the format to allow for new functionality such as; Student Specific Emergency Alert Integration, Household Income Records and a much more flexible Family Contact system. The first change you might notice is on the Student Form - Family Tab.
What does the Family Form look like?
When you first click on the Family page tab in the Student form you will notice the student name is highlighted by default. The rest of the information on the form will be specific to that student while they are selected. For instance below Edward is the default student and you can see his Emergency Contacts at a glance and the relationships of each specific to him.
Also, you will notice the check boxes (for each contact) are specific to Edward as well. Below are detailed definitions for each check box and what they mean.
Emergency Contact
By selecting "Yes" to "Emergency?" you authorize the release of the student to that person in the event of illness, injury, evacuation, or emergency that may occur while students are in school, when the parents/guardians cannot be reached. In selecting someone to whom you authorize the release of your child, please consider:
- Would your child feel safe & comfortable with this person & family?
- Could this person care for your child for several days if necessary?
- Is this person prepared to handle any special medical needs required by your child?
- Have you let this person know they are on this list?
Pick Up
By selecting "Yes" to "Pick Up?" you authorize that person to pick up your child from school. This may include car pool drivers where parents takes turns driving groups of children to and from school.
Get Parental Notifications
Select "Yes" here if the person should be on the list for privileged "parental" communication from the school regarding the student. This may include parents who do not live with the student, or other extended family members who take an active role in the child's education. Privileged "parental" communication includes things like:
- Mailing copies of report cards
- Mailing copies of Truancy and Discipline notices
- Notices for parent/teacher meetings
- Receiving text/voice alerts regarding the student for attendance exceptions, or discipline actions, or any other alerts that the parent/guardian who lives with the child would get.
What to do when Parents are not getting Notifications
The first two things to rule out as an issue are these:
1. Make sure that all relationships are set correctly by running this report: List Students with No Relations set for Parents and then fixing any students that don't have a relationship set.
2. If out of household parents are not receiving student specific alerts or notifications please run the report called: Non-Household Parents with No Alerts This report will show all Non-Household Contacts with 'Mother' and 'Father' relationship who do not have the 'Get Parental Notifications' checkbox selected to indicate the parent is to receive Alerts. This is on top of the general Alerts and Texts check boxes - both need to be set for the alert to go out.
Student Lives There Part Time
Select "Yes" here if the student lives with this person at least some of the time. Usually this will be for separated parents who share custody.
The TreeView Contact Window contains data entry forms for all; Students, Parents/Guardians, and any additional Family Contacts that live in or outside of the household. When you select one of the Contacts in this new window, the data entry fields for that contact show in the bottom of the form as seen below.
There could be many contacts on this form so you may need to hover your mouse anywhere over the dotted lines to Click/Drag/Drop and resize the window for better viewing.
- As you can see above, when you select the Household Address in the TreeView Window, the data entry form below displays the information for this household that you can edit. The Household Address fields are just like the old form. You may enter the physical address and/or additional PO/mailing address information for the household here.
- To the top right is the Household Phone information location. This allows you to enter shared contact info for the household. You may choose to receive Emergency Alerts and/or Text alerts by checking one or both check boxes accordingly.
- Adding Students and new parent/guardians to the Household can be done using the old familiar List Menu in the right hand corner of the TreeView Window, or by right-clicking on the Household Address menu item in the same window.
How do I edit Parent/Guardian/Contact info in the TreeView Window?
When a Family is created it’s required to have at least one parent/guardian or primary contact that lives with the student in the same household. In the above example this is the Mother. You may right-click on any contact in this window and set /change their household and/or parental status accordingly as seen in the right-click menu here:
Adult contacts marked as parent/guardian (dark blue dot indicator) are used to build the family name, and their contact info is used in reports that list the parent contact info for a student or family. Parents show with the blue dot icon in the tree. After creating a Family, to edit the parent/guardian name and relationship just select the contact then make your changes in the form below when Edit mode is enabled.
- Each contact will have their own Personal Phone info . Each phone number also allows you to choose Emergency Alerts and/or Text alerts by checking one or both check boxes accordingly. Just like in the old Family form, these phone numbers can be organized in order of priority by clicking and dragging the name tag on the left of the number to the order desired. You may also change the name tag here as well.
- Email contact information is also available here with the option to subscribe to a Newsletter list and to receive Attendance/Emergency Alerts as well. Designate which you would like using the check boxes here.
- Use the Personal Income tab to enter parent/guardian income information that will be used to determine student meal status. This tab is available for any adult that is listed as being in the same Household as the student.
- Student Contacts are edited the exact same way. The student info form is almost identical to what it used to be here, not much has changed as seen below:
Extended Family Contacts are added/edited the same way as the parent/guardian. The family contact info form is almost identical to the parent/guardian form. Make sure to check/uncheck if you would like to have contacts receive school mailing and alerts/texts. Otherwise, the data entry here is pretty straightforward.