Staff Resources

SETTING UP YOUR STAFF PARENTSQUARE ACCOUNT

Accessing ParentSquare

Check your inbox for an email from ParentSquare and click the link in the email to activate your account.

You can use ParentSquare on any device. You can download the free mobile app for iOS or Android and you can also use it from a computer at parentsquare.com  

 

Download the FREE ParentSquare app for iOS or Android.

Downloading the mobile app is the easiest way to receive all Posts, Events, Sign Up Requests, Photos and Files.

 

iOS App - Apple Store

Android App - Google Play Store

 

Use the camera on your phone to scan these QR codes - it takes you directly to the App or Google Play store.

You can combine all of your ParentSquare accounts under your Bedford Staff Google login.  Cases where combining accounts makes sense include:

• You are a staff member and parent: combine your staff account with your personal parent account to access both with one login. All emails and phone numbers remain associated with each other. Note: Staff must sign in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.
• Parents share an email or home phone: their accounts will automatically link if they are listed with shared contact information.
• User is missing a student or school from their main account: they have a second account for student or school that can be merged. There are 4 ways to combine accounts: 

1. Use Link on Email Invitation

• Click link in email, Sign in to Combine Existing Account

• Sign in to your other ParentSquare account.
• Select name to use on your account and click Combine Accounts.
• Your accounts are now combined. The next time you log in to ParentSquare, you can access your account using any* of the associated emails or phone numbers on your combined account. *Note: Staff must sign in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.

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2. Combine Accounts When Verifying Contacts

Web Browser

1. If you have more than one contact card, and click Yes, Merge This Contact on each card, your contacts will automatically be merged into one account. ParentSquare allows a user to have multiple emails and phones.

ParentSquare Mobile App

1. If you have more than one contact card, and tap Yes, Merge This Contact on each card, your contacts will automatically be merged into one account. ParentSquare allows a user to have multiple emails and phones.

______________________

3.  Use "My Accounts"

Web Browser

1. Log in to your main ParentSquare account.
2. Click your name in the upper right and select My Account.
3. Click Combine with another account.
4. If there are any accounts matching your verified email(s) or phone(s), a page with recommended users will appear.
   a. Click Combine Accounts, confirm any additional contacts on the account, and click Combine Accounts.
   b. If you do not see the account you want to combine, click combine another account.
5. Log in to your other ParentSquare account.
6. Select name to use on your account and click Combine Accounts.
7. Your accounts are now combined. The next time you login to ParentSquare, you will be able to access your account using any* of the associated email addresses or phone numbers on your combined account. *Note: Staff must sign in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.

ParentSquare Mobile App

1. Log in to your main ParentSquare account. Note: Staff must log in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.
2. Tap menu in upper left, select Account then Combine Accounts.
3.  Sign in to your other ParentSquare account
4. Select name to use on your account and click Combine Accounts.
5. Your accounts are now combined. The next time you login to ParentSquare, you will be able to access your account using any* of the associated email addresses or phone numbers on your combined account. *Note: Staff must sign in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.

4.  Request Password Reset

Web Browser

1. From the ParentSquare sign in page, http://www.parentsquare.com/signin click Forgot Password under the Password field. 
2. Enter the email or phone number you think is on both accounts and click Go.

3. If you entered a cell phone number, you will receive directions to reset your password via text.
   If you entered an email address, you will receive an email from ParentSquare.
   Click Reset your password.

4. Select the account for which you would like to update the password, click Update Password.

ParentSquare Mobile App

1. On the sign in page (when signed out of the app) enter the email or phone number you think is on both accounts.

2. Tap Continue.

3. Tap Forgot Password 

4. Enter verification code sent to your email or phone. 
5. Select the account for which you would like to update the password.
6. Follow the instructions to reset your password. 

Web Browser

1. From the ParentSquare sign-in page, http://www.parentsquare.com/signin, click Forgot Password under the Password field. 
2. Enter the email or phone number you think is on both accounts and click Go.

3. If you entered a cell phone number, you will receive directions to reset your password via text.
   If you entered an email address, you will receive an email from ParentSquare.
   Click Reset your password.

4. Select the account for which you would like to update the password, and click Update Password.

The class (section) name that is synced from your SIS will still be listed under Admin > Classes, but the optional Display Name, if added, will be listed throughout the ParentSquare platform. The display name will not get removed when synced.

How to Rename a Class

1. From Admin, select Classes in left sidebar.
2. Click the three dots under Actions and select Edit Class. 
3. Enter Display Name
4. Click Save.
   In Data Assistant you can see the class Name and Display Name, if added. 

Start connecting with parents right away by sending a "Welcome to ParentSquare" post. This is one way to welcome new users. Feel free to spice up your own post by including links, pictures, or attachments.

• From Home, click New Post.
• Click the To field.
  A drop-down list will appear with your class name at the top. If you don't see your class name, try entering the first few letters into the "To" field. Select your class name.
• In Subject, enter "Welcome to ParentSquare" or any other appropriate title.
• In Description, enter your welcome message.
• Adjust Notification Options if needed
• Before sending your post, be sure to look over the Notification Options in upper right. If you want to notify parents immediately, click Send instantly (overrides digest setting - use only if necessary). Otherwise, leave the default option selected: Send at user preferred time (instant or digest). 
• Click Post Now.

Tips for using ParentSquare

• Start by clicking ‘New Post’ button to send any message to your class/grade. Send plain messages, events, volunteer requests or share pictures and files. 

• On ‘New Post’ page, use the language translation option to automatically send messages in two languages to parents: English and their home language

• Click ‘Delivery Stats’ to make sure your post reached every single student family in your class. If a parent does not have an email address, they are automatically sent a text. Parents can also download the app. 

Link for more information:  https://parentsquare.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000144183-Send-a-Welcome-Post 

For teachers, direct messages are a quick and easy way to communicate with a parent/guardian or a small group of parents. Read below to send your first direct message today! 

Note: Parents can send direct messages to other parents at the school 

How to Send a Direct Message

From Home, select Messages on the left

Click New Message and select Direct Message or Group Conversation. 

Direct Message - Create a separate conversation for each recipient. Like BCCs in email, each person sees only messages from you.
Group Conversation - Create one conversation for everyone. Like CCs in email, each person sees messages from everyone in the group. 
To add recipients, use the search box to find individual users or click Add by Quick Select.

With the Quick Select option, you can select individual people, members of classes you teach, groups you own, or entire groups or classes you can access. 

If you use Add by Quick Select:

Select a tab on the left:
- People: for individual people.
- Classes: for members of classes you teach, or the entire class.
- Groups: for members in groups you own, or an entire group.
- Check box to send to Associated Parents

• Scroll to students' names and check box(es).
• Click Add recipients.

You can also search for names in the Recipients field.
- In Recipients, type first 3 letters of recipient's name and select name.
- Add additional names if needed.
- Write your Message
- Click the paperclip icon to add photos or files and the microphone to send a voice clip.
- Click Send.

 

Link for more information: https://parentsquare.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/204215089-How-to-Send-a-Direct-Message

 

Studio Editor is a powerful newsletter tool that lets you create engaging, beautifully designed posts, right in ParentSquare —no design background or technical expertise required.

Studio Editor is fully integrated into the ParentSquare platform, so newsletters and posts will be delivered with the same effectiveness as your other updates and announcements. Recipients can view Studio Editor content on any device and in any language, and in-depth analytics give you the data you need to measure engagement.

• Just Like Creating a Post: Studio Editor is Integrated into the existing Post workflow (drafts, scheduled send, add-ons etc.)
• Translation Support: Newsletters auto-translate and have the option for post authors to manually edit secondary and additional languages.
• Analytics: Post Delivery Statistics will continue to function with the current experience.
• Template Management: School, District and ParentSquare templates. Also introducing Personal Templates.

More Reasons to Use Studio Editor

• Customized, on-brand newsletters right at your fingertips. If you can create posts on ParentSquare, you can create Studio Editor posts—and with the ability to customize almost any element of your newsletter, there’s no limit to what you can build. Use our library of pre-made templates for inspiration and a quick way to get started.
• No design background or specialized technical skills required. Studio Editor is designed to be easy for everyone to use.  It’s accessible from the same place you create standard posts and uses a similar workflow, just with enhanced features and more customization in an intuitive drag-and-rearrange interface.
• Templates you can build, save, and share. Every user who has access to Studio Editor can create and save templates for their own use, so there’s no need to start from scratch every time. Additionally, admin users and those with elevated permissions can create and share templates across schools and the district, including branded templates to help staff members follow brand guidelines in their own posts.
• Delivered to families in their home language. To support communications equity, Studio Editor posts include automatic translation so your entire community can access newsletters in their home languages. As with other posts on ParentSquare, translation is available for 100+ languages to engage as many families as possible.
• Easy to read on all platforms. Newsletters are read mostly in emails and on mobile devices. Studio Editor newsletters are fully responsive and show up beautifully on all mobile platforms and across all major email applications such as Outlook, Gmail and Apple Mail. Studio Posts can also be printed for offline reading.
• Seamless integration with ParentSquare communications. Studio Editor posts include delivery and engagement statistics to help you see who’s receiving and opening your newsletters.

1. From Home, click New Post.
2. Click Studio Editor.
3. Click Basic Build or choose another template
4. Click a block of content (1) to open the editor panel on the right (2).
5. Add content, logo/image, or change the color. Click Save and Close at the bottom to save changes to this section.
6. To add new content, click on a content block, such as Paragraph (1) on the right, then hover over a dotted line between sections in the main panel and click Add Paragraph Here (2).
7. Add and edit content in the Paragraph editor panel and click Save and Close when done. 
8. Continue adding content blocks and editing as needed.
9. To move a content block, hover over a block and click the up or down arrow (1), or use the grab-handle to click and drag (2). To remove a content block, hover over the content and click the trash icon (3).
10. Click Finish at the top (1) to save the canvas and return to the Post. Or, click Save to save your draft and continue working (2). Notice that your changes are automatically saved (3). 
11. Enter send details and post add-ons just like a regular post. Follow the steps below if needed.

Send the Newsletter/Post

The following steps are the same as sending any post. See more details here.  

1. Click To field: enter name of class, group, grade, or school and select from list.
2. Who should see this?: filter your recipients by staff, parent, student, or guest users.
3. Subject: enter subject of message.
4. Select Post Add-ons (calendar entry, forms, etc.) in the left sidebar if desired. 
5. Select Notification Options for post.
6. Click Post Now and a pop up window asks you to confirm the post, click Post Now. OR, Schedule post to send at a later date, Save Draft, or Preview post.

Links for more information:

Learn more, Studio Editor Content Blocks

Learn more about Templates, click here. 

 https://parentsquare.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/26980588795405-Create-a-Studio-Editor-Newsletter-Post

ParentSquare simplifies the process of scheduling appointments, including parent-teacher conferences and other events such as scheduling on-campus pick-ups and drop-offs, health testing, vaccinations or food pick ups. 

 

Create an Appointment Sign Up Post 

From Home, click the New Post drop-down menu and select Appointment Sign Ups.

Fill out Appointment Sign Up form.

This table outlines each field in the Appointment Sign Up form.
 

Date	Select the first date. If appointments will be held on multiple days, click Add Another Day under the Date box.
Start time and End time	Enter the earliest start time for the first appointment and latest end time for the last. Time slots can be removed on the next page as needed to fit your schedule.
Recess	Select box if you will hold two sets of appointments in one day.
Appointment Duration	Enter the duration of each appointment in minutes.
Break between Appointments	Enter the amount of time (in minutes) between appointments. Enter "0" if you do not want breaks in between.
Hide names of parents who sign up	Click box to hide the names from other parents/guardians. Note: student names will always be hidden from other parents/guardians.
Limit to 1 appointment per user across all time slots	Click box to prevent parents/guardians from signing up for more than one time slot. Uncheck the box if you have parents who need to sign up more than one student.  Uncheck the box if you have students from split households whose parents want to sign up for separate times.
Require student information	Users will select their child from a dropdown list and the child's name will be displayed in the sign-up form. Uncheck the box if you don't need a student name. Uncheck the box if you have StudentSquare and want students to sign up.

 

1. Click Next.
2. You will see a list of appointment dates and times. Edit as needed.
3. Sign up slot title: (optional) edit title, e.g. Conference Time Slot, Field Trip, Chromebook Pick up.
4. Available spots in appointment slot: (optional) allow multiple people to sign up for each time slot.
5. Remove time slots that do not fit your schedule: click the trash can to the right of the time.

6. Click Next.

   Now you can complete your post to recipients.   

   • Click To field to add a class or group.
   • Edit the Subject and Description of the post or use the template provided

   Review and change as needed:

   • Change Sign Ups List Title - change default "Appointment Sign Ups" to another title.
   • Add a time slot - find correct date, at bottom of that day, click Add Task, fill out fields.
   • Remove a time slot - click the X to the right of the time slot.
   • Edit description - click Appointment Time Slot field to edit your description.
   • Edit time slots - click the time and enter your new time before posting, you can further customize your appointment sign ups. Watch the animation below as an example.
   Click Post Now.

View and Print Sign-Up Sheet

1. From Home, then in the SIGN UPS & RSVPS activity widget on the right, locate and open the post. In the Appointment Sign Ups section view who has signed up and what spots are still open.
   • Student name (indicated by grad cap) shows up next to the parent/guardian name along with any notes. Note: Coming soon
   • Parent names will show up to other parents unless you clicked the box to hide names. However, the student names will only show up for admin and post author/post admin.
2. Click Print on the right.
3. View or print this printer-friendly page. 

Links for more information: 

Create an Appointment/conference Sign Up Post
https://parentsquare.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360054590532-Create-an-Appointment-Sign-Up-Post

View Report for Appointment Sign ups

Notifications & Activity Log for Appointments

Best Practices for Appointment Sign-ups

FAQs for Appointment Sign-ups

 

There are times when you want to give priority or already know the time for a particular student/parent. Some examples of when you may use priority time slots for appointments or conferences include:

• Times for certain families that need an interpreter present.
• Times for certain special education students when a support teacher can be present.
• Parent has already communicated a certain time slot that is needed.

Follow these steps to schedule your appointment or conference in the near future so you have time to add these students prior to the post going out to all families.

 

Schedule Priority Time Slots

1. From Home, click the New Post drop-down arrow and select Appointment Sign Ups. 
2. Enter appointment dates, times, duration and click Next. 
3. Modify title, dates and times if needed and click Next. 
4. Enter subject and description of Post. Then, instead of Post Now, select Schedule.
5. In Schedule Date and Time, enter a date/time in the future. For example, schedule for 5pm today to give yourself time for the next steps. Click Schedule.
6.  Confirm information and click Schedule.
7. You'll see a green notice at the top indicating when the post will be sent.
8. Now you can add someone to the sign-up before post recipients see the sign-up post.
   Note: you can come back to your scheduled post to do this later, see below.
9. At the desired time, click Add Someone.  
10. Search by parent or student name. Select the parent with the appropriate student and click Add. 
    Note: If the parent/guardian has more than one student in this recipient group, the parent name will be listed once for each student. 
11. Now when your post is sent out, this time slot will already be taken and another person cannot select it. 
    Note: you can set time slots to allow more than one person to sign up. 

Links for more information: 
https://parentsquare.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000131423-Schedule-Priority-Time-Slots-for-Appointments

Directories list the staff members, students, and their parents/guardians.  Teachers will always be able to view their classroom directories.

 

• From Home, click the drop-down menu (filter) in the box in the upper right. From the drop-down menu, select your class. Note: Default view shows "My School, Classes and Groups". 
• In the left sidebar, select Directory in Explore section.

Link for additional information:  https://parentsquare.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/215901043-Access-Your-Class-Directory

Do you have a co-teacher, room parent, or teacher assistant that you want to add to your class? Adding class staff will allow them to post to your class, receive notifications of class posts, and direct message the parents of your class. 

• From Admin, select Classes under Data Assistant.
• Click action menu (three dots) next to the class and choose Edit Class or Manage Class Staff. 
• Edit Class gives you the option to edit the class Name and then Save.
• Manage Class Staff allows you to add other Teachers, Room Parents or Assistants.  Click Add Row, fill out details and click Save.  

Note:  the additional staff must already be in the school directory.  Class staff will only receive class posts that are sent to their user role. If you add a staff user as a co-teacher, don't forget to send all of your class posts to Staff and Parents so that both your co-teacher and families receive it.

Link for more information:  https://parentsquare.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000095286-Add-Teacher-Room-Parent-or-Teacher-Assistant-to-a-Class