Monthly Mentions Newsletter – September 2018

For most of our schools, the Summer Transition steps have been completed and the new school year is underway.For most of our schools, the Summer Transition steps have been completed and the new school year is underway. Previewing your report cards is a very important step and should be completed during these first few weeks of school. This step involves looking over each grade level’s report cards to make sure all courses, sub-categories, grade scale and layouts look correct. When you complete this step early in the school year, you help support your your teachers by making sure they have what they need and reduce last minute report card corrections at the end of the grading period. Please note that report card changes can take up to a week to process.

Here are the steps to view a report card:

1. Go to ‘Grades’
2. Choose a homeroom instructor in the ‘select instructor’ drop down then click the ‘view instructor’s grade book’ button
3. Click the button ‘view report cards’
4. When the homeroom roster appears, click ‘print’ next to any child’s name

Here are the components to review on a report card:

• Course names
• Course subcategories
• Grade scales/marking codes
• General formatting, for example school header, course list columns, layout

Click here to read the FAQ on how homeroom teachers can view their report cards!

Click here to read the FAQ on how administrators can view report cards!

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Want to know more about our new FDpay eCommerce component? Interested in letting your parents make online payments?  Would you like to hear more about how you can automate your
accounts receivables? Sign up for ACH now and have the monthly service fee waived until August 2019!

We have partnered with Pace Payment Systems to make it easy for your school to accept credit card and debit card payments from parents for anything from tuition to yearbooks! Parents are able to pay for a variety of school-related fees without having to leave their FastDirect parent account and all major credit cards and debit cards are accepted!.
Here are some of the great features of FDpay:

• Convenience for Parents – making online payments is fast and easy
• Credit & Debit Card payments updated immediately in FastDirect (no more dual entry!)
• ACH payments can be scheduled or made on demand
• PACE reporting for the school/church and district

Click here to read the FAQ that explains FDpay

Click here to read the FAQ about Pace Payment Systems

Contact HelpDesk to get started today!

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Getting your parents activated in FastDirect is an important step to building a strong partnership between the school and the school community.  Communication is a major component of that partnership and FastDirect will help in establishing strong lines of communication. To help get your parents familiar with FastDirect and our services, we have created a Family User Guide.  This packet is designed to introduce FastDirect, explain our features and provide some step-by-step instructions on how they can use their parent account to stay connected.  Besides finding this document in your Links section, you can also download it by clicking this link.

We have added a way to batch print the parent information forms for all active parent accounts.  This can be helpful when keeping a paper copy/binder of all parent information of if you want your parents to sign off on their information or make note of any changes.

Here are the steps for how to batch print the parent information forms:

1. Go to People, then Parents
2. Click ‘Print’ next to the very last option that reads ‘Print All Active Parent Information Forms’
3. A new internet tab will open with each parents’ information displayed per page and then you print through your browser’s print commands

Are you a new administrator at the school or do you feel that you could benefit from some additional training? If you are interested in receiving new or additional training, let HelpDesk know and we will schedule a time for a phone training session.

Here are some functions that typically require new or additional training:

• Monitor
• Finance
• Cafeteria
• FDmail and messaging options
• System Settings
• FDpay & Timer

When a student is marked Absent and then arrives tardy, the Homeroom teacher is allowed to change that student to Tardy and set the number of minutes that the student arrived late. Here are the steps for a homeroom teacher to change a student from Absent to Tardy:

1. After the initial morning attendance has been taken, the attendance roster will disappear and be replaced with a lunch ordering form.
2. Directly below the lunch ordering form and above the box for ‘Staff Options and Preferences’ will be a box to mark an absent student tardy.
3. In this box, select the absent student’s name and then enter in the number of minutes that he/she was tardy.
4. Click ‘Mark Tardy’

Click here to read the FAQ on how teachers can change a student from Absent to Tardy!

The Finance icon for all parent accounts provides a dedicated space for parents to view financial information.  When a parent clicks on the Finance icon, they will have access to the following information:

• Clickable account balances (transaction history)
• Tax Report (by year)
• Make a Payment and My Wallet, which is for schools who have signed up for FDpay (online payments)

• Why can’t I make a lunch charge to a staff person’s account?
• How do I add the instructor’s name next to the course on a report card?
• What are my options for sharing my school’s newsletter?

Watch this video tutorial to learn about the Extended Care Log in Timer!

• Click here to watch the video tutorial as an MP4!
• Click here to watch the video tutorial in Youtube!