Welcome to the September 2024 Issue!

 

We’re grateful to support your school and know that your season is off to a busy start! Check out the links below highlighting our latest articles and insights.

Blog: Building Stronger Bonds: Email & Social Media Tips for Schools 

It’s important to keep open communication with families, but how do you hold interest and prevent unsubscribes? In this blog, we go over strategies to increase email and social media engagement. 

Blog: Engaging New School Families: 5 Keys to Success 

Are you looking for new ways to engage new families to your school? In this blog, you will learn strategies to attract new families and how technology augments these practices. 

Important News

The TADS and Educate R&D teams have been working on upcoming releases, so stay tuned for more information next month! We are constantly working to streamline the user experience within our platforms, and in September, we've been prioritizing improvements such as bug fixes and refinements to the TADS-Educate integration. 

TADS Portal Pointers

Split Households and Billing 

In TADS, it is common for students to be attached to multiple households. Parents may be separated or divorced, or other persons may need to be in the system for billing or reporting purposes. When this occurs, it’s important for separated/divorced parents to be listed in TADS under separate household records to ensure their billing information is kept separate. 

If the family hasn't already done so, you will need to create the individual households in the Enrollment form and mark each payer as financially responsible. The system will then prompt you to create a customizable tuition agreement for each party. (Remember to tell the system not to recalculate your customized charges/credits if your school uses group rules to designate charge or credit amounts). This process requires a few more steps than usual but rest assured that we have options to accommodate even the most complex situations. 

For more information, please refer to these articles or contact the School Support team for assistance with specific situations: 

 

Enrollment Per Student Report / Health Emergency Card Report 

Need an easy way to download or print enrollment information by student for the school office or for classroom teachers? There are two report options available in TADS that you can pull in an easily printable format depending on the information you need. 

1. The Enrollment Per Student Report 

  • A full summary of a student’s enrollment information the family provided during the enrollment process. 
  • Includes all responses to supplemental questions and signatures on any releases and terms & conditions. 

2. The Health/Emergency Card Report 

  • Includes basic health and emergency contact details for a student if your school collects this information via default fields in TADS Enrollment. 
  • Commonly used by front offices or for field trips and extracurricular activities. 

3. Health/Emergency Card with Supplemental Questions 

  • Includes any custom supplemental question responses to the Health/Emergency Card Report that your school may collect as part of the enrollment process. 
  • If you want any custom supplemental questions added to this report, please contact your school’s assigned Implementation Specialist. 

To view these reports as an administrator, click into your Enrollment > Reports tab. Within each report, you will have options to search for a specific student, filter by grade levels, or simply click ‘View Report’ to access the report for all students. You can export the resulting data into various formats, including PDF or Microsoft Word. 

 

School Cash Flow Report

The School Cash Flow Report in TADS is a great resource for forecasting future revenue for your school year. The projected revenue listed in this report is organized by invoice due date, and it includes the estimated remittance dates and planned payment amounts. Please note the amounts and dates listed in this report are estimates only. Remittance dates and amounts will be impacted by families who pay early, late, or with a payment method that is not the default setting on their account. Remittances may also be delayed due to Banking Holidays. We know that not all families will pay on time, but this report will give you a general idea of what payments and remittances to expect. 

When it’s time to tie out your books, you should use the School Remittance Report or Account Reconciliation Report to see the actual remittance amounts for each date or date range. More information about the School Cash Flow Report can be found in our Support Guide. 

Educate Portal Pointers

Grant Parent Access 

Learn how to grant parent access to Educate here. 

Parent Portal FAQ 

Please check out our Administrators guide to the Parent Portal FAQ. 

Help Center 

We encourage you to use our Educate Help Center.

Contact Support

Admin Email Support:  

Educate-support@communitybrands.com 

TADS-adminsupport@communitybrands.com 

Educate Phone Support: 888-730-3256 

TADS Admin Phone Support: 612-548-3369 (or toll-free 888-210-4857) 

 

As we continue to support our customers to unify their digital campus and build vibrant communities, Customer Support will be introducing new Unified Hours in October. Starting October 21st, our support team will be available for your school and its families from 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Central time, Monday through Friday. 


In the coming weeks we’ll be sending out more information, including our new contact details, and information you can pass along to your families as well. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to your Customer Support Manager with any questions.  

Thank you for reading this month’s newsletter. We’re excited about the new school year and are here to help you!  

With your mission in mind,

 The TADS & Educate Team