ACCESS
Access ParentSquare at parentsquare.com and sign in with your Google account. The link can also be found in the CF Staff Bookmarks and on the Cfalls.org Intranet.
Tutorials
The videos below were created to help you learn to use ParentSquare and answer the most common questions.
Rosters
Rosters, and student guardians contact information, are automatically synced with DASL (which pulls from Final Forms)
To view the students in your class, select your class in the upper right dropdown menu that says “My School, Classes, and Groups”, then on the left click “Explore” and then click “Directory.”
To rename your class, follow this guide, or watch this clip: Renaming Your Class Names/Rosters
Self-contained classrooms have multiple courses listed, because ourse lists in ParentSquare are synced from Progress Book and DASL information. Your course lists in ParentSquare should be identical to your Progress Book rosters. If you would like to post to your self-contained classroom and show multiple courses, select one of the courses and use that course to post all of your information.
NOtifications
To change your notification settings:
- #1- Click on your name and choose "My Account."
- #2- Under "Settings," choose "Notification Settings."
- #3- Under "General Announcements & Messages," for your building, you can choose between Email, Text, or App notifications. Keep "Urgent Alerts" and "School Alerts" on.
Or, watch this clip.
messaging
Posts are made for groups of people, whereas messages are for direct communication.
Guardians can message teachers and secretaries, but not principals (they would have to email).
Here's how to use a student name to message a parent.
You may receive an email that notifies you of a message. DO NOT reply to the email, since that will not go back to the sender. Instead, use the link provided to reply using the app (which on a computer takes you to their website).
Groups
Groups allow users to create custom groups (clubs, sports, etc.).
There are two types of Groups:
- Static Group- includes members you add or is a self enrollment group. (MOST COMMON)
- Auto-Update Group automatically updates with members who meet conditions based on specific fields.
There are three Static Group options:
- Public- it is listed on the building groups page under "Participate" and people can choose to join it.
- Private- you pick and choose who gets access.
- Confidential- Members will see the name of their confidential group but other recipients will not.
Add members by selecting students (if you don't see the students you need, let us know).
Students are not permitted to post content in ParentSquare. Students (i.e. student officers of a club) wishing to post content can create the content and send it to the CF Staff advisor. The advisor will make sure the content follows the student code of conduct and can post the content in the group for the students.
Translation
ParentSquare automatically translates into Nepali, Spanish, and Arabic which are the three top languages our families speak after English. If you would like to see the translations of your posts, click on the black “Edit Translation” button at the bottom of your post and you will notice all four language will appear as separate tabs.
Conferences
To create, send, and monitor Conference sign-ups through ParentSquare, check out this page.
Studentsquare
To communicate directly with students, they need to sign up for StudentSquare.
On each post sent to a group, users have the option to “Appreciate” (like) a post or “Comment” (which is a private message sent back to the post author).
FAQ
Some of my parents haven't accepted ParentSquare yet, how can we encourage them to do so?
- Let them know that the district is using ParentSquare for communication and send them their Getting Started Guide.
- If the parent can't find their activation email, let your tech coach know and they can resend it.
When parents have questions about the app, who should they contact?
- You can start by sharing ParentSquare's Reference Sheet for Families
- Parents should begin by contacting their child’s teacher. If they do not know the answer, they should contact their tech coach.
I am only assigned to one building, but I have other buildings assigned to me. My contact information is wrong. Who do I contact to get this fixed?
- Please email Chris Shaw
My initial invite to activate my account expired, who do I contact to request a new one?
- Please email Christine Stewart
Will my personal telephone number be visible to families? Will I be getting phone calls from families to my home phone/cell phone?
- No. All communications happen within the ParentSquare platform. Families will not be able to see your personal phone number, nor will they be texting you or calling your phone number.
How do I post to multiple buildings (just secondary or elementary)?
- If you teach at multiple buildings, you will need to navigate to each school’s page and post in each building. You will need to copy and paste posts in each individual school page.
Is there a way to change the default in the recipients list?
- No, but you can easily check/uncheck the user groups that you wish to send to.
I am an intervention specialist, but I don’t have the ability to create a group? Why?
- Watch this video beginning at 5:54 for an explanation.
Resources
Looking for more training tutorials, visit ParentSquare's resource page. You need to sign in with your @cftigers.org account to access these materials.
If you still have questions, email your Tech Coach: Erin Fulton or Alex Oris