Measure A on November Ballot

Clovis Unified’s Measure A is on the ballot this November. Measure A is a facility bond measure that maintains a stable tax rate and would provide for:

Safety, energy efficiency and technology upgrades for ALL schools.
Modernization and repairs to aging schools.
Completion of our new high school to ease overcrowding.

Learn more about this $400M facility bond measure at cusd.com.

ParentSquare Training

ParentSquare Help Resources

A wide variety of detailed, step-by-step tutorials on every ParentSquare feature can be found on the ParentSquare website, and is a great place to start if you have a question. Click here to visit the resource center.

One-Sheet Resources

ParentSquare for Parents

ParentSquare Parent Tips

ParentSquare for Teachers

ParentSquare for Admin

Introduction to StudentSquare

ParentSquare Communication Tools

ParentSquare Groups and Guests

ParentSquare Glossary

Want to schedule training for your site?

Contact the Communications Office to schedule your training! From an overview of the basics of ParentSquare, to a more detailed approach for specific users, or even just a Q&A session, we're happy to support your team as you navigate ParentSquare.

Email Kelly Avants or Kendra Burt to get started.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How do I invite my parents/staff to join ParentSquare?

A. To send an invitation to anyone who has not yet activated their account, go to Admin – Data Assistant – Parents/Staff – In middle of screen select “Invite xx Unregistered.” If you like, you can personalize the invitation by selecting the down arrow next to the invite button and choosing “view/edit invitation.” Once happy with your message, hit send. This will send a message to all unregistered accounts associated with your school with a link to connect their account to their school.

You can come back to this screen any time to see how many of your accounts remain unregistered, and resend the invitation. Invitations only go to accounts that have not yet registered.

Q. I have a long-term sub and want to give them access to ParentSquare. How do I do that?

A. Office managers and Principals have access to give long-term subs permissions to the class they are covering. In ParentSquare, from their school home page, select the “Admin” tab at the top of the page. Under “Data Assistant” on the left menu, select “Classes” and find the class you are looking for on the right. In the “Action” column, click on the three dots and select “Manage Staff/Room Parent.” The popup screen that appears will give you the ability to click “Add Row,” find the individual you want to attach, give them the role of “Teacher” or “Assistant Teacher,” etc. Then click “Save.”

When their sub assignment ends, just remove them from the class using the same steps as above selecting the “X” in the Action section.

Q. I need access to post to a group. How do I do that?

A. Your site's administration can grant you the access to create and manage groups and more. They can learn how here.

Q. I really don't want my name to show up under my posts, can it just say my school name?

A. Consider it done! Just read this short article on setting up Department numbers, and create your school name and main number as a “Department.” After that, you’ll be able to set posts to be sent under the “Department” name rather than your own. https://parentsquare.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043362732-Create-Manage-Department-Phone-Numbers

Q. How can I change the name displayed on my ParentSquare account so my posts/messages use the name I’m known by at school?

A. Site Admin can set the name others will see in ParentSquare. Here’s how.

Q. How do I customize permissions for some of my team so they can access a group or school-wide posts.

A. Principals can customize user roles in just a few simple steps found here.

Q. I’m getting notifications from schools and groups I don't belong to. Can I turn off notifications from multiple sites?

A. In Clovis Unified, many roles have full access to Q to review student data, which means they are linked to multiple schools in ParentSquare. Luckily, there's an easy fix! In your account settings, you can choose when you want to receive notifications and can even turn off notifications (other than urgent alerts) completely. Find out how here.

Q. Why am I not seeing a group that exists in our SIS Q in my ParentSquare account?

A. If it is not yet populated with students in Q, it will not populate to ParentSquare. ParentSquare updates nightly so when you do populate your Q student group, the data will be in ParentSquare the next day.

Q. How do I add a Room Parent to my class?

A. Teachers can ask Administration to add a Room Parent to ParentSquare, so they can post to their class to share information with other parents. Before doing so, make sure to review your communication expectations with your Room Parent.

Select the parent who should have Room Parent posting permissions. Let your Admin Team know who this parent is.
Administrators can go to their Admin section in ParentSquare, and navigate to "User Management".
Search for the selected parent, and Assign them the Room Parent role.
This role can be removed and reassigned if needed.

Q. I'm not getting any texts from ParentSquare to verify my account. What can I do?

A. There have been some users who aren't receiving the verification texts to activate their accounts, text notifications and more on their cell phone. If you run into this issue, it could be that they somehow opted out of text messages. Try having them text "START" to 66458 to opt back into text messages from ParentSquare.

Q. How do I use Appointment Sign-Ups?

A. Teachers, as you start planning for your Parent-Teacher Conferences, you can use the Appointment Sign Up Tool in ParentSquare to make scheduling your conferences easy for you and your parents! Quickly set up your appointment time slots, then share the schedule in a Post to your class for parents to sign up for their preferred appointment.

Check out these resources from ParentSquare to learn more about this feature:

Standard Operating Procedures

1.1 - Adding a stepparent/grandparent to a student in ParentSquare

In some cases, a student’s relative will request that an additional person be added as a “parent” to a student’s ParentSquare account.

Confirm individual is able to receive information from school and is not on any kind of unauthorized list (e.g. noncustodial parent, restraining order, etc.).
Provide individual with link to “ParentSquare – Join Your School” form.
Form will ask individual to submit their contact information, name and grade level of student at school to which they are associated, and the role they are requesting (should select “Parent” for this type of request)
Once form is completed it will be received by the Principal via email through ParentSquare (Pending requests for edits to information can also be found under “Data Integration” on the “Admin Tab” in the “Contact Verification Report” screen.).
Obtain permission from custodial parent to add individual and approve the request in ParentSquare. Site administrator will need to manually connect the requesting individual with the appropriate student(s) in ParentSquare (view instructions here) once confirmation is received.
Once added, the new “Parent” will see all posts and alerts from the site or district pertaining to the student to which they are attached, just like other parents.
Teachers should be reminded not to use the Direct Message feature to send confidential information to anyone but the custodial parent(s).
Of note – “Parents” added to ParentSquare using this method remain attached to the student and their contact information remains static in ParentSquare. It does not get overwritten by daily data updates from Q.

1.2 - Changing User Permissions

Site administrators can assign and create different levels of permissions within ParentSquare. This function would be used in instances where an administrator would like to give permissions related to a specific group, authorize an office manager or other staff member to have access to send school wide messages, etc.

1. Review the instructions for assigning a role or creating a custom role dependent on your need.

2. Before assigning the role or creating a custom role, ensure:

The staff member or user to which the new permissions will be assigned understands your expectations for the types and frequency of communications they will be responsible for in their new role.

The staff member or user completes training for their new role. Training videos for a variety of roles can be found at: https://parentsquare.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/7343146344717-Classes-Training

3. As the Principal/Site Admin, you can view reports of any posts, direct messages or alerts created by anyone on your site.

1.3 - Adding a Classroom Parent

Site administrators can assign a Classroom Parent to a classroom for each of their teachers. The Classroom Parent would then have permissions to post to their classroom's parents, as well as send messages to those parents in the classroom. This permission, like others, can be assigned and removed at will of site administration.

In ParentSquare, go to Admin -- Data Assistant -- Classes
Search for the class you would like to add a Classroom Parent
Select from the far right-hand side menu “Actions” -- Manage Staff/Room Parents
Add a Row – Search for Parent's Name and Select – Change their role to “Room Parent” – Save Changes

Before assigning room parent, make sure that you and your teachers have identified the parameters (number of posts, allowable topics, etc.) you expect for room parents, and communicate those parameters to the individual. If the parameters aren’t followed, simply follow the same steps above and by clicking on the “X” button next to the parent’s name you will remove their room parent permissions. Here’s a starting point for room parent best practices.