School Options

The School Options form is used to maintain data about each school and is stored in the LOC table. It contains the school’s name and address, grade range, etc. Various options are displayed for the user’s school only. The information on this form should be verified at the beginning of each school year.

The school options can be changed prior to the start of school by clicking the mouse on the dot next to the option selected, for example Elementary or Secondary. But once school has started these options MUST not be changed.

• School Codes range between 1 and 999.  School Code 0 is used for the School District name and address.

Note: School code 0 and the school code of the current database cannot be deleted. For example, if SCH09001.MDB is being accessed then school code 001 cannot be deleted.

• School Name  - it is important that the exact name is entered. The school name is utilized by all forms and is printed on the top of all reports.

• Grade Range  - validates student’s grade level on the student data form. The number of tracks determines whether the school is setup as a multi-track school. If there is more than one track the attendance calendar form will display differently.

• Next Perm ID Number - used to assign new students a district ID number, in lieu of a social security number. This is assigned automatically to new students when added using the student data form.

• Attend Period - is the period that attendance is will be taken if not taken at each period.

• Attend Track - is the number of tracks that a school currently has in operation.  If there are no tracks enter 0.

• Path to Student Photographs - the folder that contains the photos of the students. This path MUST be correct for the photos to display on the Student Data form.

Options

The following options are displayed on the School Options form and can be changed by clicking the mouse on the dot next to the option, for example, Elementary or Secondary. But once school has started these options MUST not be changed.

School Type

A school should be designated as a secondary school if it maintains a master schedule, courses, and teachers, and assigns sections to each student. Normally an elementary school does not use a master schedule, course table, or assign sections to students. Teacher and room data is kept in the teacher table. The student’s teacher assignments are kept in the student record in the area used for counselor number by elementary schools.

Some elementary schools have students in grades 5, 6, or higher and use a master schedule to assign classes to all students. The lower grade students will have only one class. By selecting the option, Elem w/MST (elementary with master schedule) the school can be treated as a secondary school for everything except attendance.

Attendance Type

A school keeping attendance for one or more periods of the day uses Period Attendance reporting. Schools keeping attendance by day use Daily Attendance reporting.

Grade Reporting

This option can be set as Mult Marks for "Multiple Marks" if a school wants to keep grades for students in the grade table all year or all semester. At the beginning of a new grade reporting cycle all previous grades will be stored and new classes will be added. If One Mark has been selected the grade table will be erased at the start of every grade cycle and new grade records will be created for each student and their current class schedule.

Attendance Reporting

Attendance Reporting is normally performed as exception or negative attendance. This means only absences are reported and if students are not reported as absent they are assumed to be present. However continuation schools normally use positive attendance reporting.

Session Type

The default for this option is Regular unless this is Intersession or Summer school. A summer school has attendance computed on an hourly basis and reported positive.

Gender Codes

To flag students as "boys" and "girls" select the B and G option or select the M and F option for "males" and "females."