Parent Portal FAQ

Modified on Tue, Dec 26, 2023 at 1:04 PM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Add/Edit User Screen & Access Info
Discipline Screen
Gradebook Screen
Grading Screen
Home Screen
Report Cards
Conferences
Miscellaneous

Add/Edit User Screen & Access Info

Question: Why do I not see the student's from some schools when I try to search and then add them to a user?

When you perform a search from the Add/Edit User screen, only student's who are in a school marked as "For Parents Module" are included. The "For Parents Module" field is located for each school on the Setup>Schools>Modify School screen.

Question: Can I create parent portal users en masse?

Yes, from the Parent Access->Setup->Users->Import screen.

There is also a tool available that will create accounts for you via Parent Access>Setup>Users>Auto Create.

Question: Why are parents unable to log in?

Check that their account is enabled on Parent Access->Setup->Users->Modify User. You can reset their password there as well, if necessary. Additionally, there is a "View Security Audit" pdf you can access. It will show their activity, and if they have been entering bad passwords.

Question: Can I mass email parent access users? Can I mass email them a password?

Yes. You can email via Parent Access->Maintenance and/or Parent Access->Setup->Users. Email templates must be created via Parent Access->Setup->Email Templates.

Question: Can I prevent a user from logging in without assigning a fine?

Yes. On the Parent Access->Setup->User->Modify User screen, there is a "Deny" column for the students attached to the account. Check that. Denial reasons can be added via Setup->Codes in the PARENT_DENY_ACCESS_REASONS code table.

Question: Can I mass set "Logon Type" for Parent Access accounts?

Yes. Use the tool on Parent Access->Maintenance titled "Auto set the Type of Logon field on the Parent Logonid." Read through what it does - and then make sure "Only users without a 'Type of Logon.' User with a 'type of logon' will be skipped." is selected in the dropdown before running it.

Question: Can I mass set the "Relationship Code" for the accounts as well?

Yes. Use the same tool on Parent Access->Maintenance titled "Auto set the Type of Logon field on the Parent Logonid." Make sure "Only users without a 'Relationship code.' Will not update Type of Logon for these users." is selected in the dropdown before running it.

Question: Why didn't the ROLES for Parent Accounts get updated during the rollover process? (i.e. Middle School accounts still have the Elem School role attached.)

Parents accounts are not updated in rollover since we never know if parent accounts were updated to different roles manually for a reason specific to that account. The students would have have to be updated in mass when they are changing a role. We have mass assign tools that should be run if you have different roles for the different grades, via Parent Access>Setup>Roles>Assign Roles.

Question: Can I see all of the parent portal logons who have never logged in to the portal?

Yes - if you go to Parent Access>Setup>Users>Logon IDs, there is a search parameter on that screen of "Never Logged In." If you check it off and search, you will get the logon IDs who never accessed the portal.

Also take a look at these reports: 91680 Parent User Inactivity Report and 91685 Parent Usage Report.

Question: We have a student returning to our system - will the parent portal account get automatically re-activated?

No. The previously disabled account has to be activated manually.

Question: What if I update a parent's e-mail address within Genesis? Will the parent be prompted to login using their new e-mail address?

Yes! After changing an e-mail address within the student's record (not as the parent) the parent can log into the account as usual (with previous e-mail and password). So long as the e-mail address was originally attached to a parent account, they will see the same "Your login has been Changed" message as above, and they will follow the same prompts to log back in using the new e-mail address.

Discipline Screen

Question: Why won't any of the discipline incidents for a student show up in the discipline module?

A common cause for this is that the incident is not set to show in Parents Module. This can be configured in two ways. Go to Conduct -> Incidents -> Open Incidents screen, find the incident you are looking for and then check off the Parents check box or by going to the Student Data -> Conduct screen, hit the modify icon. Now go to the Incident Detail screen and switch the "For Parents" field to Yes.

Gradebook Screen

Question: What does the message "<Student Name> does not have assignments set up in <School Name>. Make sure this student has courses set up to be graded." mean?

The problem will probably be that the student does not have any courses that are marked as "Graded" on the Scheduling>Curriculum>Modify Course screen. You should also check the "Display in Parents as Gradebook" checkbox on the same screen and make sure this is checked as well.

Question: Why do only some of a student's courses appear in the list of gradebooks?

This probably means that the student's missing courses are not marked as "Graded" or the "Display in Parents as Gradebook" is not checked on the Scheduling>Curriculum>Modify Course screen. Just change this flag and the courses should appear.

Question: It is currently MP3 and the only MP that is being displayed is MP1 on the Gradebook's Weekly Summary screen. How can I get all of the marking periods to appear?

This is usually the result of the student's school's attendance cycles having bad dates. Verify that the Start and End Dates of the marking period are correct on the Setup>Schools>Params>Attendance Cycles.

Question: Can I get a teacher's email address on any of the Gradebook's screen in Parent's Module?

Yes! You can have the teacher's 'email address appear directly under the teacher's name on the Gradebook's Weekly Summary screen. The first step in making this work is to go to the Parents>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Gradebook and make sure the "Show Teachers Email" column is set to Yes for your school. Once the flag is set to Yes, and teacher with an email address will have that address displayed on the Weekly Summary screen.

Question: Why do the weekdays and assignment counts not appear on the Weekly Summary screen?

This is most likely caused by the "Display Gradebook Assignments in Parents Module" field on the Parents>Setup>Settings>District Settings screen being set to No. Just switch this to Yes and then weekdays and assignment counts will reappear.

Question: The gradebook average in the parent portal does not match the average generated in the teacher's gradebook. Why would that happen?

This is most likely happening because of a selection made for the school on Parent Access->Setup->Settings->School Settings->Gradebook. There is a "average of assignments for parents" option in the "Gradebook MP Avg" dropdown. If a teacher has not set all of her assignments to display in the parent portal, the average may pull differently to the parent portal screen.

Grading Screen

Question: One of the report cards for my student is not showing up. How can I get it to show?

If the student's grade is not using elementary grading, this can occur when the grade level is setup as an elementary grade. This can be changed on the Setup>Schools>Parameters>Valid Grades screen.

Additionally, double check your settings on Parent Access->Setup->Settings->School Settings->Report Cards. You can select which MP you want to display in the portal.

Question: I don't see any of our student's MP grades on the Grading screen. What could be wrong?

There are really 2 things you should look at for the possible answer. For both answers, you will need to go to the Parents>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Grading screen. The first potential problem is that the "Display Grade(DG)" check box is unchecked for your marking periods. If they are not checked, then the grade will not appear. If these are checked, and the grade is still not appearing, then check the "Grade Type on Grading Tab" drop down on the bottom half of the screen. Switch the grading type to the grading type that your school uses.

Question: None of the student's courses are appearing on the Grading screen. What could prevent the courses from appearing?

Courses cannot appear on this screen if the school is not setup to display the student's schedule. This can be changed on the Parents>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Scheduling screen by changing the "Show Schedule" column to Yes.

Question: My non-elementary students are receiving the message "There is no grading data available for <Student_Name>" (or just seeing no grades) when the student does have grades. What could be the problem?

This can happen when the student's grade level is accidentally marked to be used in elementary grading. While this will have little effect on the posting of grades, it can have a large effect on the displaying of grades. You can check this on the Setup>Schools>Parameters>Valid Grades screen. If the elementary column has a check in it, then that grade level is setup for elementary grading. Just change the "Use in Elementary Grading" flag to No.

Home Screen

Question: All student courses are not appearing in the student's schedule. How can I get them all to appear?

The field "Only show courses that are currently meeting (Home & Gradebook)" on the Parents>Setup>Settings>District Settings screen controls what courses are displayed to the parents. If this field is set to Yes, then only courses that meet during the current marking period will be displayed. If this field is set to No, then all courses in a student's schedule will be displayed.

You may also need to go to Scheduling>Curriculum>Modify Curriculum and check off the "Display in Parents: Grading and Schedule" option. If checked, this course will show up under the Grading tab and appear on the students schedule in the Parent Portal.

Report Cards

Question: The report card is not showing an address. What could be causing this?

In Contacts 2, an address will only be shown if the email (logonid) can be tied back to an address that is marked to receive a report card. Here's an example for a parent user joesmith@genesisedu.com. Joe is the Guardian 1, has an address marked for report cards and has the email joesmith@genesisedu.com. Joe will be allowed to see the address on the report card. If the Guardian 2 has the same email tied to their contact2 record, they will also be allowed to see the address as well even if the address is not on their record. However, if the Guardian 2 does not have that email (joesmith@genesisedu.com), they will not be allowed to see the address unless they have a separate address tied to their contact record that is marked for report cards.

Question: The report cards for a student are not showing up. How can I get them to show?

Additionally, double check your settings on Parent Access->Setup->Settings->School Settings->Report Cards. You can select which MP you want to display in the portal.

Conferences

Question: How can I get a staff member to appear in the "Appointment With" dropdown in Student Data>Modify Student>Conferences?

The "appointment with" pulls from the Counselor ID field on the Staff->Staff->Modify Staff screen, as well as the "Disciplinarian" checbox on Staff->Staff->Modify Staff. So, the staff member would need to be marked as one of those to appear.

Question: Where do I add new appointment locations for the Conferences screen?

You can add a new code via Setup>Codes by clicking on the APPOINTMENT_LOCATIONS table.

Question: Which type of conference should I create - a Staff conference or a Calendar Event conference?

It depends on what you are trying to do. More often than not, if you are looking to have parents sign up for conferences, you will want to use Calendar Event conferences.

There are 2 different kinds of conference types in Genesis that can be used to create Parent Conferences: Staff and Calendar Event

Staff Conferences:
These conferences are best suited for scheduling students into already determined time slots or daily/weekly office hours that teachers would like to leave available for parents to reserve at any point in the school year
These can be manually created by any teacher/counselor who has access the Web Desk->calendar; or manually by an administrator with access to student data->modify student->conferences
Staff conferences can also be created in Mass by any administrator with access to the Web Desk->setup->conference setup wizard

Calendar Event Conferences:
These conferences are best suited for your Parent Teacher Conferences that are held and advertised by your school district a few times in the school year.
This conference type can only be created in Mass by an administrator with access to the Web Desk->setup->conference setup wizard
These conferences are directly linked to the School Calendar Events via: Calendar->School->Calendar Setup

Question: Can I include UNGRADED courses for conferences?

We added in an "Ungraded Course Options" option on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Conferences tab, in the "Course Display" column. By default, ungraded courses are not displayed for parents to schedule conferences. By clicking on the link, you will be given options to display those courses based on the flags in the curriculum, if you'd like to do so.

Question: My parents do not see the conference tab. Why?

Make sure it is enabled via Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Conferences. You should also verify the Parent Account has a ROLE that has the “Conferences” checked off. You can see the role tied to their account via Parent Access>Setup>Users>Modify User. (AKA: Go to Parent Access>Setup>Users, search for the logon ID, click on their Logon ID to get to the Modify User screen. This field is in the “Students Attached…” area.) Update the Role itself via Parent Access>Setup>Roles>Modify Role. Check off “Conference” and click SAVE. Mass assign Roles to users by student list via Parent Access>Setup>Roles>Assign Roles.

Review our conference settings page here.

Miscellaneous

Question: Can I post Assessments on the parent portal?

Yes. You check off "Assessments" on the Parent role via Parent Access>Setup>Roles>Modify Role.

Question: Can I get an idea of what parents see in the parent portal?

Take a look at our Intro to Parent Access article.

Question: We rolled over and now student schedules do not display on the "Scheduling" tab in the Parent Portal. Why?

The "Scheduling" tab is only for "Next Year Scheduling" info. After you roll over into the new year, their schedule will only appear on the Student Summary tab. And you can take away the "Scheduling (Next Year)" tab from their Role, if needed.

Question: Can we display a barcode or QR code within the Parent Portal?

Yes. There is a "Display Students' Barcode on Student Summary screen" field, a "Barcode Font" field, and a "Barcode Type" field located on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>District Settings tab. When this option is on, a barcode icon will be displayed on the Student Summary screen inside the parent portal. When the barcode icon is clicked, a barcode for the student will be generated. The "Barcode Font" field allows you set what barcode font to use and the "Barcode Type" field allows you to select either the Student ID or User Text when generating the barcodes.