March 2020

If your school is approaching the 3rd quarter report, then these functions in FastDirect might need to be addressed.

Opening up teacher input for 3rd Quarter Report Cards will require:

  • Confirming the 3rd quarter dates in ‘Grades’ then ‘Report Card Input Controls’
  • Changing input for 3rd quarter Report Cards from ‘Not Yet’ to ‘Allow Input’ in ‘Report Card Input Controls’
  • Having teachers go through the 3rd quarter report card input process
  • Closing the input process by changing ‘allow input’ to ‘input complete’

Registration is an important part of the school year and FastDirect can help make the process easier.  In FastDirect, you can track new student applications, re-registrations of returning students, as well as the charging and depositing of registration fees. Here is some of the information that is tracked in the Registration report:

  • The number of students for each grade level
  • The number of students returning in each grade level
  • The number of new student applications in each grade level
  • An estimated number of spots available in each grade level
  • A breakdown of each existing family and their re-registration status

Here are some other features involved in registration through FastDirect:

  • The ability to allow your parents to re-register their child online
  • Time stamps for when parents re-registered their child
  • The finance account for Registration 2019-2020
  • A report showing all families and if they have been charged their registration fees
  • A report showing all families and if they have paid their registration fees

Click here to watch the Registration video tutorial in MP4 format

Click here to watch the Registration video tutorial in Youtube

Registering students for next year often means forms and paperwork.  With the file upload function, you can add these forms to the Links page, send them as attachments or create links to them on the login screen.  Making these forms available online means you won’t be spending your time making copies and mailing them out. Additionally, by allowing your parents to upload files, you can have a paperless process!  After you have uploaded the forms and made them available online, your parents can fill the forms out and send them back to you through our secure FDmail eMessaging. Here is how to turn on file upload for your parents and ways to help get your parents started:

You can activate this feature either for parents or students or both. To do so, you’ll go to Settings and click on FDmail in the left hand navigation menu. Check mark the option to Allow Parent File Upload and click ‘Save Changes’.  To allow students, repeat these steps and check mark the option for Allow Student File Upload.  To learn more about file upload, click on your FAQ Icon (the blue question mark), click on the “Look in: All categories” drop-down menu, select File Upload/File Attachment and click “View FAQ”. To help teach you parents and/or students how to use the file upload tool, you can point them to the FAQ section under the heading of ‘File Upload/File Attachment’. HelpDesk would like to help you get your Registration processes set up in FastDirect. Please send an FDmail message or give HelpDesk a call when you are ready to get started.

If your school is on trimesters, March may be too soon to be preparing for mid-trimester reports.

Registration is an important part of the school year and FastDirect can help make the process easier.  In FastDirect, you can track new student applications, re-registrations of returning students, as well as the charging and depositing of registration fees. Here is some of the information that is tracked in the Registration report:

  • The number of students for each grade level
  • The number of students returning in each grade level
  • The number of new student applications in each grade level
  • An estimated number of spots available in each grade level
  • A breakdown of each existing family and their re-registration status

Here are some other features involved in registration through FastDirect:

  • The ability to allow your parents to re-register their child online
  • Time stamps for when parents re-registered their child
  • The finance account for Registration 2019-2020
  • A report showing all families and if they have been charged their registration fees
  • A report showing all families and if they have paid their registration fees

Click here to watch the Registration video tutorial in MP4 format

Click here to watch the Registration video tutorial in Youtube

Registering students for next year often means forms and paperwork.  With the file upload function, you can add these forms to the Links page, send them as attachments or create links to them on the login screen.  Making these forms available online means you won’t be spending your time making copies and mailing them out. Additionally, by allowing your parents to upload files, you can have a paperless process!  After you have uploaded the forms and made them available online, your parents can fill the forms out and send them back to you through our secure FDmail eMessaging. Here is how to turn on file upload for your parents and ways to help get your parents started:

You can activate this feature either for parents or students or both. To do so, you’ll go to Settings and click on FDmail in the left hand navigation menu. Check mark the option to Allow Parent File Upload and click ‘Save Changes’.  To allow students, repeat these steps and check mark the option for Allow Student File Upload.  To learn more about file upload, click on your FAQ Icon (the blue question mark), click on the “Look in: All categories” drop-down menu, select File Upload/File Attachment and click “View FAQ”. To help teach you parents and/or students how to use the file upload tool, you can point them to the FAQ section under the heading of ‘File Upload/File Attachment’. HelpDesk would like to help you get your Registration processes set up in FastDirect. Please send an FDmail message or give HelpDesk a call when you are ready to get started.

We love our FDimages so much that we wanted them to be available for posting on staff bulletin boards! Now with a click of a mouse you can add to your bulletin board any of the FDimages, such as announcements for birthdays, holidays, etc!  Here are the steps for adding an FDimage to your bulletin board:

  1. On your Home page, scroll to the bottom and click the button that reads ‘Edit my bulletin board’
  2. Below your bulletin board will be fields to create entries. Underneath your last bulletin board entry field will be a line that reads ‘Add new Entry’.  In the options for the new entry will be a drop down for FDimages.
  3. Select an FDimage from the drop down and then click the ‘Save Changes’ button

You can go back and make any edits if needed, such as check marking the option to have the image centered.

As many schools around the country are planning for possible extended school closings, it is important to remember the many features of FastDirect that make e-learning easy for your teachers and families. With components such as Links, FDmail, and Bulletin Board, keeping in touch with families about course curriculums and school work, school procedures, and community news will make the closings easier. Here are some FAQs about components that can play an important role in an e-learning situation:

How do I upload a file?

How do I attach a file to my bulletin board?

How do I create a link to an uploaded file?

Here are some other beneficial features and components:

  • FDpay
  • assignments calendar
  • file attachment/upload
  • email forwarding
  • grade book messaging
  • grade book reports

To discuss any of these features or components and how they can be utilized at your school, contact HelpDesk for assistance.

After the start of the 3rd quarter, principals have the ability to allow individual teachers to edit ReportCard grades for the entire year without having to ‘allow input’ for a specific grading period or without having to ‘allow input’ for the whole school. Once a principal has permissioned a specific teacher to edit ReportCard grades for the entire year, then that teacher will need to follow these steps:

  1. Go to ‘Grades’
  2. In the first drop down inside the gray box at the top, choose the course that has ReportCard grades that need to be edited
  3. Click the large yellow button that reads ‘You are temporarily allowed to edit ReportCard grades for the whole year’
  4. You will now see the list of students in that course and their ReportCard grades
  5. Click ‘Edit’ next to the student whose grade you would like to change
  6. Enter in a grade or change an existing grade for that student, then click ‘Update’
  7. Repeat these steps for any additional student grades or courses

When viewing or updating your parent information in FastDirect, it is easy to overlook the field for Cell Phone Provider.  If you have a cell phone number in your parent account, you must select a cell phone provider in order for FDbroadcast or Text Notifications to work. Without a cell phone provider, these are the functions that will not be possible in FastDirect:

  • Text Notifications
  • FDbroadcast via text
  • Auto-notify via text

To view and edit your information, simply click ‘View/Edit Parent Information’ at the top of your Home page.  Your school may limit the amount of information you are able to edit.  If there is a change to your contact information and you are unable to edit it, please contact the school’s office so that they can make the necessary changes.

Watch this video tutorial to find out more about excluding (hiding) a student’s name in Grade Book:

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