Navigating as a Staff + Guardian: Tips and Best Practices

If you are both a staff member and a guardian in Connect, you have a unique set of tools and views to manage your classrooms and your child’s information. This guide will walk you through best practices to make navigation easier, ensure you’re using the right filters, and clarify what access you have in each role.

🗂️ Use Filters Effectively in Classrooms

Instead of relying solely on the list in your profile, use filters to quickly switch between your classrooms and your child’s classes. 

In Classrooms, try filtering by School or other criteria to focus your view. 

1. Click on the Classroom tab from the left-hand menu.

2. Open the Filters option.

   

3. Apply filters to quickly find the classrooms you’re looking for.

   

As a staff/teacher, you can also rename your classrooms for faster recognition. Quick Note: When you rename a classroom, the new name will be visible to everyone. 

From the Classrooms page, your classrooms in the list will have a three-dot menu option. Click on it, then Edit Class. You will be able to rename the classroom.

✅ Understand Your Access 

1. Click on Directory from the left-hand menu.

2. Use the drop-down, select the school/classroom.

   

3. Your School's Family Directory only includes students rostered to you or those your school’s permissions allow you to see. 

4. Your school’s Staff Directory shows the staff members from the school. 

   

5. The Directory from a classroom level:

   As a teacher/staff member, you will be able to see both the Families and Teachers tabs. The ability to perform actions such as sending Announcements to the families in your classroom. 

   

   As a parent, you may only see the teacher's tab if that’s how the settings are configured.

   

📬 Send the Right Message from the Right Role

When you start conversations with students' guardians, they are properly associated with the correct students by default. If asked to also associate the conversation with your own child, choose the “No child-association”. This keeps communications clear and avoids confusion.

1. Click on the Message bubble icon in the top right corner. 

   

2. Click on New Conversation.

   

3. To send a message, just type in a name to search, or browse the Families, My Children’s Teachers, or Other Staff tabs and check the names you want.

4. Click on the Create button to the right.

   

5. A prompt will ask you to link a child to the conversation. If you’re messaging as staff, just check No child-association. 

6. Click Send.

   

📣 Filtering the Announcements 

If you’d like to view announcements specific to a child or classroom, you can apply filters to narrow your results.

1. From your Homepage, you can access all Announcements from the classrooms, schools, and the district you belong to.
2. By default, the page shows All Announcements, but you can switch between your children’s tabs to view announcements specific to each child.
3. You can also use the Filters option to narrow results and see more specific announcements.
4. You’ll see the My Classrooms option with the list of classes you’re a teacher of.

5. Parents will see the Classrooms their children are enrolled in.

   

🎉 Balancing your staff and guardian roles doesn’t have to be tricky. With these best practices, you’ll stay organized, avoid mix-ups, and get the most out of your SchoolStatus Connect experience.