Monthly Mentions... MAY

Each month, FastDirect provides a newsletter to help our schools stay on top of all things related to FastDirect. Click any of the headers below to find out more information than what was included in the most recent Monthly Mentions.

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download May

  • Coming Up This Month...

    • Opening up teacher input for 4th Quarter Report will require:
      • Confirming the quarter dates in 'Grades' then 'Report Card Input Controls'
      • Changing input for the mid-quarter report from 'Allow Input' to 'Input Complete'
      • Changing input for the 4th quarter report cards from 'Not Yet' to 'Allow Input'
      • Having teachers go through the quarter report card input process
      • Closing the input process by changing 'Allow Input' to 'Input Complete'
    • Some schools also have a 'Semester 2' and/or a 'Final' column on their report cards. If this has been set-up at your school, then you will need to open up input for those grading periods as well.
    • Summer Transition! In mid-May, we will post the Summer Transition steps on your Home screen. Here are explanations of what your school will need to complete before the end of the summer:
      • Creating a statement to appear on report cards declaring that the student will be moving forward to the next grade level
      • Marking any students who will not be moving forward as 'Not Promoted'
      • Creating any new Homeroom teacher accounts
      • Establishing the Homeroom teacher changes for next year
      • Moving the students forward to their new homerooms and grade levels
      • Assigning courses to teachers and filling those courses with students
    • HelpDesk is dedicated to helping make the Summer Transition an easy process and allow you more time to enjoy your summer break. Please contact HelpDesk if you have any questions about getting started. Once these steps have been completed, please notify HelpDesk so that they can move your school forward to the new school year.
    • On the Summer Transition steps, there are a few details to note:
      • After each step is a blue question mark, which are links. When you click one, the system will pull up an FAQ which will provide more information about that step.
      • After some of the steps are links to a video tutorial. When you click one, the system will pull up an FAQ/video tutorial which will provide more information about that step.
      • There is a button underneath the Summer Transition title, which will allow you to 'hide' these steps. This is helpful if you have already completed the steps or will not start on the steps until later this summer.
      • The last and final step to ensure that your system is ready to operate for the 2017-2018 school year is to have HelpDesk move your forward. This requires you to contact HelpDesk so that we can verify everything has been completed and confirm with you that your school is ready to move forward.

  • Did You Know...for Administrators

    • The District/State report has been made even more helpful! For all Transfer students, we've added the grade level from which they transferred.
    • Here are the steps to view the District/State report:
      • Click on Reports
      • In the left hand menu, click on Attendance
      • In the left hand menu under Attendance, click on District/Sate report
    • Here is a list of some additional information found in the District/State report:
      • Student's first day/last day
      • Student's days present/absent
      • View previous school year's information

  • Did You Know...for Teachers

    • Even though the ReportCard from the current grading period only has the comments for that period, you are still able to view/print the comments from the whole year. Furthermore, you can print those comments as a batch print. The same is also true for attendance.
    • Here are the steps to print an individual student's comments:
      • Go to 'Grades'
      • Click 'View ReportCards'
      • Click 'Print' next to the student's name in your roster
      • When their ReportCard appears, click on the word 'Comments'
      • That student's comments for the whole year will appear on a separate screen which is printable
    • Here are the steps to batch print your homeroom students' comments:
      • Go to 'Grades'
      • Click 'View ReportCards'
      • Click 'Print Whole Class Comments' which is above the roster list
      • The comments will appear (one after another) and File - Print will print them all on individual sheets
    • Both sets of steps can be followed for Attendance as well.

  • Did You Know...for Parents

    • Assignment Calendars have never looked so good! We've made some improvements to the Assignments Calendar which will help strengthen the communication between school and home.
    • Did you know that the events a teacher creates in her GradeBook are automatically fed to a student's assignment calendar? If a teacher creates events before they occur, the students and parents can be better informed and prepared.
    • The assignments calendar can be found on a parent's Home screen underneath their FDmail messages. There will be a black and white grid showing you all the viewing options available for the child's grades. One of the columns is labeled 'Assignment Calendar'. Click the 'View' button and a new window/tab will appear displaying a month's worth of dates. The month can be changed so that the parent or student can see a different range of dates.

  • What's New...

    • We've added a mobile menu to the login page for when you access your school's site on a mobile device. Navigating the login page options has never been easier! The menu items are normally found on the left hand navigation menu when you go to a school's site on a desktop/laptop computer.
    • Here are some of the menu options found in the mobile menu:
      • Welcome Page (Full Site)
      • Log In
      • Bulletin Boards/Calendars
      • Cafeteria Menu
      • Links
      • Registration
      • Parent Activation
    • Video Tutorial of the Month:

  • Trimester Schedules

    • Opening up teacher input for 3rd Trimester Report will require:
      • Confirming the 3rd trimester dates in 'Grades' then 'Report Card Input Controls'
      • Changing input for the 3rd trimester from 'Not Yet' to 'Allow Input'
      • Having teachers go through the trimester report card input process
      • Closing the input process by changing 'Allow Input' to 'Input Complete'
    • Summer Transition! In mid-May, we will post the Summer Transition steps on your Home screen. Here are explanations of what your school will need to complete before the end of the summer:
      • Creating a statement to appear on report cards declaring that the student will be moving forward to the next grade level
      • Marking any students who will not be moving forward as 'Not Promoted'
      • Creating any new Homeroom teacher accounts
      • Establishing the Homeroom teacher changes for next year
      • Moving the students forward to their new homerooms and grade levels
      • Assigning courses to teachers and filling those courses with students
    • HelpDesk is dedicated to helping make the Summer Transition an easy process and allow you more time to enjoy your summer break. Please contact HelpDesk if you have any questions about getting started. Once these steps have been completed, please notify HelpDesk so that they can move your school forward to the new school year.
    • On the Summer Transition steps, there are a few details to note:
      • After each step is a blue question mark, which are links. When you click one, the system will pull up an FAQ which will provide more information about that step.
      • After some of the steps are links to a video tutorial. When you click one, the system will pull up an FAQ/video tutorial which will provide more information about that step.
      • There is a button underneath the Summer Transition title, which will allow you to 'hide' these steps. This is helpful if you have already completed the steps or will not start on the steps until later this summer.
      • The last and final step to ensure that your system is ready to operate for the 2017-2018 school year is to have HelpDesk move your forward. This requires you to contact HelpDesk so that we can verify everything has been completed and confirm with you that your school is ready to move forward.

  • Archives - Old Monthly Mentions

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