ParentSquare Staff FAQ

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.

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.

Yes. You can set office hours for messages.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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! 

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 lists.

This ParentSquare volunteer function provides some overlap with our current volunteer management system, Better Impact. 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 Better Impact. 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. For at-home activities, you should encourage them to log their time on their myimpactpage.com volunteer profile. In addition to tracking hours for the annual report to the School Board, signing in/out and logging hours creates a record of volunteer activity at the school. You're free to not utilize the ParentSquare volunteer function and continue using Better Impact, if you wish.  Please contact the school volunteer coordinator if you have questions about adding your activities to Better Impact.

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.

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.