NERIC SchoolTool Team

December 2025 Newsletter 

schooltool@neric.org        (518) 862-5454 Opt.#2

December/January Checklist

❄️Prepare for Progress Report Grading

•  Verify Progress Report interval is unlocked for teachers

•  Verify the comment bank is in place

•   Verify reports are in place

❄️Maint>School Year>Configuration

•   Define semester and marking period dates for the upcoming school year. Progress report dates may also be entered but are not required (if estimated dates are entered, the Marking Period and Progress Report settings may have to be “tweaked” before correcting the Semester data). Semesters are required to build a Master Schedule.

Note: This step should be performed as preparation for the next year’s Master Schedule.

☃️Maint>School Year>Cycle Day Scheme Assignment

•   Define the cycle day schemes that are used at each building. Unless this has changed from the previous year (from a 5-day schedule to an A-B schedule, for instance) then the exact values from the previous year should be used. These schemes must be defined at the start of the Scheduling process as this is a preparatory step for building the next year’s schedule; otherwise, schooltool will default the cycle day options to a standard 5-day week.

**Note: This step should be performed as preparation for the next year’s Master Schedule.

⛄Maint>School Year>Calendar

•   Define the district calendar with all holidays and special days, such as superintendent days. This can be done at any time but should be set as early as this information becomes available. It is also used for data warehouse reporting.

**Note: This step should be performed as preparation for the next year’s Master Schedule.

❄️Maint>Scheduling>Yearly Building School Level Options

•  Specify publish dates for student schedules for each building school level (this is optional). When a publish date is defined, users who have the “Respect Student Schedule Publish Date” security option enabled will be unable to view student schedules outside of the Counseling module until after the publish date.

☃️Scheduling>Course Catalog

•  The Rollover tab allows you to quickly build a Course Catalog for the year based on a past year's offerings. You may be very selective in the specific courses that are chosen to be rolled over, skipping those that are no longer needed. A Course Catalog with at least one course is required in order to build a Master Schedule.

❄️Scheduling>Period Maintenance

•   We can import the previous year's period structure for use by another year, for each building, by clicking on the Copy Periods link when editing the period list for a new year. At least one period must be defined in order to build a Master Schedule.

**Note: If you plan to import a previous year's master schedule, you should also copy the corresponding period structure. Otherwise, the periods designated for each section will be reset. In addition, do not make any changes to the period structure (and team structure, if applicable) until after the master schedule has been imported.

⛄Scheduling>Teaming Maintenance

• We can import the previous year's period structure for use by another year, for each building, by clicking on the Copy Periods link when editing the period list for a new year. At least one period must be defined in order to build a Master Schedule.

**Note: If you plan to import a previous year's master schedule, you should also copy the corresponding period structure. Otherwise, the periods designated for each section will be reset. In addition, do not make any changes to the period structure (and team structure, if applicable) until after the master schedule has been imported.

❄️Scheduling>Master Schedule>Main (Import Master Schedule Editor)

•  We can import the previous year's period structure for use by another year, for each building, by clicking on the Copy Periods link when editing the period list for a new year. At least one period must be defined in order to build a Master Schedule.

**Note: If you plan to import a previous year's master schedule, you should also copy the corresponding period structure. Otherwise, the periods designated for each section will be reset. In addition, do not make any changes to the period structure (and team structure, if applicable) until after the master schedule has been imported.

☃️Scheduling>Master Schedule>Master Schedule Builder

•  We can import the previous year's period structure for use by another year, for each building, by clicking on the Copy Periods link when editing the period list for a new year. At least one period must be defined in order to build a Master Schedule.

**Note: If you plan to import a previous year's master schedule, you should also copy the corresponding period structure. Otherwise, the periods designated for each section will be reset. In addition, do not make any changes to the period structure (and team structure, if applicable) until after the master schedule has been imported.