Create a Group in ParentSquare
Keywords: ParentSquare, groups, class groups, classes
Aliases: group classes, auto groups, static, communications
Groups are a great way to send to targeted communication to subsets of students and/or parents such as after-school athletic teams or clubs. Once a group is created, Admin and the Group Owner are able to send communication to this group. Teachers can create groups at their own school and they can include any student in their school.
Who can use this? School and District Admin, Teachers and those with individual user permission for Groups
* Determine Which Kind of Group You Would Like to Create
Static Group (Most common) includes members you add or is a self enrollment group. You will build your group by selecting students or users, entering contacts, uploading a CSV file, or by allowing self-enrollment as in a public group.
Auto-Update Group automatically updates with new members who meet conditions and removes members who do not. You will build your group based on specific fields (grade level, language, zip code).
Community Group (if enabled at your school) is a self enrollment group open to anyone outside your school. Your group will be added to your Community Groups page.
Create a New Static Group
1. From Home, select Groups in left sidebar in the Participate section, then click New Group
2. Click New Static Group.
3. Enter the group's information.
Name - Enter the group name.
Description - You can describe the group (optional)
Private or Public - The default is set to private group, but you can select public group if you want others to join the group at their will. Note: Private groups will not be visible in the group directory, only Admin and group members will be able to see it listed.
Allow group members to post - Usually the group owner will post to the group, but you can allow all group members to post to the group.
Owners - If you create the group, you are automatically assigned as an Owner, but you can remove yourself by clicking on the trash icon. Add other group owners here. Type out the first 3 letters of the owner name and select them.
4. (Optional) Click Advanced Options.
Allow group members to post to this group. (By default, only group owners can post to a group.) Click this option to allow all group members to post to this group.
Make comments public. If you see this option, your school has comments and replies to comments set to hidden so that they are only viewed by the post author, the comment author, and the ParentSquare admins. Making comments to this group public will make all future comments and replies visible to all group members.
5. Add members by using any combination of the 4 main add options.
Add Members by Selecting Students - Search by student name or grade level. Enter the grade or student name in the Search box and click the box next to the student you want to select. Selecting students will add all associated parents to the group.
Add Members by Name or Role - Search for parent or staff names. Click the box next to the parent or staff name to select them for the group. Click 'Show selected rows only' to see all those selected. Once you have everyone selected for the group, click 'Save.'
Add Guests/External Members - Invite Guests/External Users (add members as Guests/External Users if they are not already ParentSquare users and are not parents/staff at the school). Enter the user's full name, email address and/or phone number. Note: Guests/External Users will only able to see see posts sent specifically to their group. Posts sent to the whole school will not be seen UNLESS the group is also included.
Add Members by uploading CSV - Upload a CSV including a single column of Student SIS IDs. Example file looks like this:
Upload a CSV file with a single column of staff SIS IDs. Example file looks like this:
Upload a CSV file with External Users. Example file looks like this:
6. Click Save at the bottom.
Here is a quick animation on how to create a Static Group.
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Create a New Auto-Update Group
An Auto-Update group will automatically add members according to the conditions you set.
1. From Home, select Groups in left sidebar in the Participate section, then click New Group.
2. Click New Auto-Update Group.
3. Select the correct user roles by checking the boxes next to your selection.
Choose between the user roles: Teacher, Staff, Parent and/or Student.
4. Create the condition by selecting an option from the drop-down menu.
To add an additional condition, click Add Condition.
Example: a group with all parents that have a student in 7th grade and have indicated Spanish as their main language.
5. Click Save at the bottom.
