Excessive Absences Truancy & Tardy Letters

Transcription

1 Excessive Absences Truancy & Tardy Letters Information Technology Department Revised March 23, 2018 SBCUSD Information Technology Page 1

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3 Training and Support You may contact the following offices for assistance with the Excessive Absences, Truancy, and Tardy letter procedure: Youth Services Youth Services Specialist (909) Information Technology Training Specialist (909) Changes made in this version: SART letters date added SBCUSD Information Technology Page 3

4 Table of Contents Chapter 1 - Overview and Initial Setup... 5 Lesson 1: Overview... 6 Lesson 2: Creating a desktop shortcut to your shared folders Rename Folders Lesson 3: Customizing the letters Chapter 2 - Processing Excessive Absences Letters Lesson 1: Entering meeting date and time into the 2 nd letters Lesson 2: Processing the Excessive Absences Letters Chapter 3 - Processing Truancy Letters Lesson 1: Entering meeting date and time into the 2 nd Truancy letters Lesson 2: Processing the Truancy Letters Chapter 4 - Processing Tardy Letters Lesson 1: Entering meeting date and time into the 2 nd Tardy Letters Lesson 2: Processing the Tardy Letters Chapter 5 Understanding the Letter Log Screen Lesson 1: Finding letters that have been mailed to parents (in Aeries) Display Letters to one student Display Letters to all students Deleting a single letter from the letter log Deleting a batch of letters from the letter log Lesson 2: Retrieving your electronic batch of letters Lesson 3: Printing the Letter Log Print Letter Log for one student Print Letter Log for multiple students Chapter 6 Appendix Lesson 1: SART Contracts Lesson 2: Query to identify SART/SARB students Lesson 3: Common problems SBCUSD Information Technology Page 4

5 Chapter 1 - Overview and Initial Setup Chapter Objectives Upon the completion of this chapter, you will be able to: State Excessive Absences, Truancy, and Tardy Letter procedures and guidelines Create a desktop shortcut to the Excessive Absences, Truancy, and Tardy Letter folders Customize the Excessive Absences, Truancy, and Tardy Letters with your school s information SBCUSD Information Technology Page 5

6 Lesson 1: Overview Aeries Excessive Absences, Truancy, and Tardy Letters Explanation of excessive absence and truancy letters in Aeries and generating tardy letters (if your site chooses to use these). Every year you will receive the Letter Writing Schedule from Youth Services. There are four excessive absences letters 1 st Excessive Absences Letter English 1 st Excessive Absences Letter Spanish 2 nd Excessive Absences Letter English 2 nd Excessive Absences Letter Spanish The criteria for creating the 1 st Excessive Absences Letters are 10 or more for secondary and 5 or more for elementary of the following absence reason codes: B-Early Dismissal Excused (elementary only) E-Excused and/or K-Personal Needs The criteria for creating the 2 nd Excessive Absences Letters are 15 or more for secondary and 10 or more for elementary of the same absence reason codes (e.g., B, E, and/or K) and have received the 1 st Excessive Absence Letter. There are four truancy letters: 1 st Truancy Letter English 1 st Truancy Letter Spanish 2 nd Truancy Letter English 2 nd Truancy Letter Spanish The criteria for creating the 1 st Truancy Letters are 3 or more of the following absence reason codes: Elementary A-Absent N-Non-Verified U-Unexcused X-Truant W-Tardy-Unexcused 31+ Middle/High A-Absent N-Non-Verified U-Unexcused X-Truant The criteria for creating the 2 nd Truancy Letter are 6 or more of the same absence reason codes (shown above) and have received the 1 st Truancy Letter. Sites will have to customize the excessive absences and truancy letters with their principal s name and title within the Aeries program before running the letters. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 6

7 There are four tardy letters: Aeries Excessive Absences, Truancy, and Tardy Letters 1 st Tardy Letter English 1 st Tardy Letter Spanish 2 nd Tardy Letter English 2 nd Tardy Letter Spanish The criteria for creating the 1 st Tardy Letters are 10 or more of the following absence reason codes: Elementary/Middle/High (All Day Code is used for Secondary) T-Tardy Only use T Tardy. DO NOT USE ANY OTHER ABSENT CODE TO GENERATE TARDY LETTERS. The criteria for creating the 2 nd Tardy Letters are 15 or more of the same absence reason codes (shown above) and have received the 1 st Tardy Letter. Sites will have to customize the tardy letters with their school name, school phone number, principal s name and title within the Aeries program before running the letters. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 7

8 Excessive Absences Letter Guidelines Aeries Excessive Absences, Truancy, and Tardy Letters Elementary and secondary schools should send out the 1 st Excessive Absences letter in the second week of each month and the 2 nd Excessive Absences letter in the third week of each month. You must print three copies of each batch of letters AND save each batch of merged letters in your current year Shortcut (2) folder (or name you change it to) for audit purposes. --The first printed copy is mailed to the parent or guardian. --The second printed copy is placed in the student s cum folder. --The third copy of the printed letter is filed in the 3-ring binder. Truancy Letter Guidelines Schools should send out the 1 st Truancy Letter in the first week of each month and the 2 nd Truancy Letter in the third week of each month. You must print three copies of each batch of letters AND save each batch of merged letters in your current year Shortcut folder (or name you changed it to) for audit purposes. --The first printed copy is mailed to the parent or guardian. --The second printed copy is placed in the student s cum folder. --The third copy of the printed letter is filed in the 3-ring binder. Tardy Letter Guidelines (OPTIONAL) Elementary, middle, and high schools should send out the 1 st Tardy Letters in the first week of the month and 2 nd Tardy Letters in the third week of each month. You must print two copies of each batch of letters AND save each batch of merged letters in your current year Shortcut (3) folder (or name you changed it to) for audit purposes. --The first printed copy is mailed to the parent or guardian. --The second printed copy is placed in the student s cum folder. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 8

9 Window Envelopes vs. Mailing Labels Aeries Excessive Absences, Truancy, and Tardy Letters If you will be using window envelopes (recommended) to mail your Excessive Absences, Tardy, and Truancy letters, make sure you order them in advance so they will be ready by the time you process the letters. Order the #10 window envelope via the district Printing Work Order Online service. To navigate to the login screen, go to the District s website and follow this path: District Offices > Communications/Community Relations > Printing Services > Printing Work Orders Online. For further assistance, contact Printing Services at (909) If you will not be using window envelopes, instructions on how to print mailing labels are in Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4 of this manual. Make sure you have enough of these envelopes on hand before processing your letters. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 9

10 Lesson 2: Creating a desktop shortcut to your shared folders Three shared folders have been setup on your P drive for you to save your completed letters. Follow the instructions in this lesson to create a desktop shortcut to the Excessive Absences Letters current year, Truancy Letters current year, and Tardy Letters current year folders to make it easier to save and retrieve your letters. Before you generate letters for the first time in a new school year, check the Letter Log to make sure that Yes appears in the Cnt? column on the first day of school and that No appears in all records above that date. Refer to Chapter 5, Letters to all students for instructions on how to use the Letter Log. Call Youth Services if you think the Yes and No are incorrect here. To get permissions to use these folders, you must have your administrator securityspecialist@sbcusd.com and request this access. Step-by-Step Windows 7 Click on the Start button and then on Computer from the menu. -or- Windows 10 Click on the magnifying glass icon to the right of the Start button and input and then click on ThisPC. 1. Double click on the (P:) Drive icon. The name of your P drive may be different than what is shown in this screen shot. Also, you may have fewer network drives displayed in your window. 2. Double click on the Aeries folder. The Aeries window opens. 3. Double click on the Truancy folder. The Truancy window opens. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 10

11 4. Double click on the Truancy_Letters. The Truancy Letters window opens. 5. Resize the window so that you can see part of the desktop behind it. In the next step, you will be dragging a folder from the P drive onto your desktop area. Aeries Excessive Absences, Truancy, and Tardy Letters 6. Right click on the current year folder and choose Send to > Desktop (create shortcut) 7. In the menu bar, click on the word Truancy. 8. Follow the same steps for Excessive Absences and then Tardy Letters. 9. Navigate to the desktop and verify that you see three folders labeled current year. If you point and hold your mouse over the shortcut, you will see the exact path for each folder. The (2) represents the Excessive Absences folder. The (3) represents the Tardy Letters folder. The shortcut without a number represents the Truancy Letters folder. Rename Folders 1. Point to the desktop icon and click the right mouse button. 2. Point to Rename and click. A box opens around the current name with the filename highlighted. 3. Leaving the current filename highlighted, type the new filename (e.g., current year Truancy Letters, current year Excessive Absence Letters or current year Tardy Letters). 4. Press the Enter key to save the new filename. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 11

12 You may want to delete the previous year s desktop shortcuts so that you do not accidentally save this year s letters into the wrong folder. Make sure the icon is a short cut (it will have a little blue arrow). Lesson 3: Customizing the letters You will need to customize the signature block in all letters and the school name and phone number in the Tardy letters. If you have a new principal, then you will need to edit the name in all 12 letters. 1. Login to Aeries. 2. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Pages icon, type the word TEXT in the Filter Pages field and then select Letter Text Editor. List of letters Text inside selected letter 01 means letter will print in Spanish There are four characteristics to the 12 letters. The first three, Letter ID, Part, and Correspondence Language*, display as column headings above the list of letters. The fourth, Total Attendance codes needed to get this letter is listed above the letter text (top of screen). The table on the next page explains the letters in detail. The Corr Lang field is located on the Student Data > Demographics screen. Letter IDs for the 8 letters Description of Letter Letter ID Part Corr. Lang. TL ATT Codes SBCUSD Information Technology Page 12 *If the Corr Lang field shows Spanish in the demographics screen, the student receives a Spanish letter. All other letters will go out in English.

13 1 st Excessive Absences - English Absences 1 5 ES/10 MSHS 1 st Excessive Absences Spanish Absences ES/10 MSHS 2 nd Excessive Absences English Absences 2 10 ES/15 MSHS 2 nd Excessive Absences Spanish Absences ES/15 MSHS 1 st Truancy English Truancy st Truancy Spanish Truancy nd Truancy English Truancy nd Truancy Spanish Truancy st Tardy - English Tardy st Tardy - Spanish Tardy nd Tardy - English Tardy nd Tardy - Spanish Tardy Customizing the bottom portion of each letter 1. Select the 1 st Excessive Absences - English letter. Use the table above to identify the correct letter. 2. Click the button (bottom of screen) to enter the edit mode. 3. Click in the Text for the bottom portion of the letter area and scroll to find the principal s name or [Principal or Designee] prompt. 4. Drag over the [Principal or Designee s name] prompt (or name if wrong name appears) and enter your principal s name or the staff member designated by the principal to sign the letter. 5. Drag over the [Title] prompt (or title if wrong title appears) and enter the correct title (e.g., Vice Principal). 6. Make sure there is one blank line separating the title and cc: Student File text. 7. Drag over the Principal s name and title (or their prompt) and then press the Ctrl + C key on your keyboard. This will copy the selected text into the clipboard. You will paste this copied text into the remaining 11 letters. 8. Click the button to save your changes. 9. Select the next letter from the list (left side of screen). 10. Click the button to enter the edit mode. 11. Click in the Text for the bottom portion of the letter area and scroll to find the principal s name or [Principal or Designee] prompt. 12. Drag over the Principal s name and title and then press the Ctrl + V key on your keyboard. This will paste the text you copied from Step 7 above. Make sure there is a blank line separating the title and cc: Student File. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 13

14 13. Click the button to save your changes. 14. Repeat Steps 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 for the remaining letters. Aeries Excessive Absences, Truancy, and Tardy Letters If the text you copied disappears from the clipboard, redo step 7 to copy the text into the clipboard again. Read through the text in all eight letters to make sure there are no typos or blanks where site information was supposed to be entered (e.g., phone number). Customizing the Tardy Letters The Tardy letters need two additional pieces of text customized to make them ready for mailing; the school name and the school phone number. 1. Select the 1 st Tardy Letter - English letter. Use the table above to identify the correct letter. 2. Click the button (bottom of screen) to enter the edit mode. 3. Click in the Text for the top portion of the letter area and scroll to find ENTER SCHOOL NAME prompt. 4. Drag over the ENTER SCHOOL NAME prompt and enter your school s name. 5. Click in the Text for the bottom portion of the letter area and scroll to find ENTER SCHOOL NAME prompt. 6. Drag over the ENTER SCHOOL PHONE # prompt and enter your school s phone number. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 14

15 7. Click the button to save your changes. Repeat for all Tardy letters in English and Spanish. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 15

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17 Chapter 2 - Processing Excessive Absences Letters Chapter Objectives Upon the completion of this chapter, you will be able to: Enter a meeting date and time in the 2 nd letters Print letters for parents, student cum folder, and 3-ring binder Print list of students who received a letter Print mailing labels (optional) SBCUSD Information Technology Page 17

18 Lesson 1: Entering meeting date and time into the 2 nd letters Before you mail the 2 nd Excessive Absences Letters, you will need to enter the date and time of the meeting. This lesson will walk you through the steps to modify these letters to include the date and time of the meeting. Step-by-Step 1. Login to Aeries. 2. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Pages icon, type the word TEXT in the Filter Pages field and then select Letter Text Editor. 3. Select the 2 nd Excessive Absences Letter English (blank). 4. Click the button to enter the edit mode. 5. Click in the Text for the top portion of the letter area. 6. Scroll to the bottom of this area until you see the paragraph containing the meeting date and time. 7. Drag over the previous date and enter the new date of the meeting. When editing the Spanish letter, enter the date in Spanish (refer to the example on the next page). 8. Drag over the previous time and enter the new time of the meeting. DO NOT REMOVE THIS PARAGRAPH FROM THE 2 ND LETTER! SBCUSD Information Technology Page 18

19 Spanish Translations for Date and Time Monday = lunes Tuesday = martes Wednesday = miercoles Thursday = jueves Friday = viernes Aeries Excessive Absences, Truancy, and Tardy Letters January = enero February = febrero March = marzo April = abril May = mayo June = junio July = julio August = agosto September = septiembre October = octubre November = noviembre December = diciembre Use this syntax when entering the meeting date and time: Day of the week, day, month, year, time For example: Tuesday, November 11, 2010 at 3:00 p.m = martes, 11 de noviembre de 2010 a la(s) 3:00 p.m. 9. Click the button to save your changes. 10. Select the 2 nd Excessive Absences Letter Spanish letter. Refer to the table in Step 3 to identify this letter. 11. Repeat Steps 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Make sure that the date and time of the meeting is identical in both the English and Spanish letters. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 19

20 Lesson 2: Processing the Excessive Absences Letters You are now ready to generate the Excessive Absences Letters. This lesson includes steps to print the letters for the parent/guardian, student cum folder, and 3-ring binder. It also includes instructions on how to print mailing labels if necessary. Step-by-Step 1. Login to Aeries. 2. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Reports icon, type the word PARENT in the Filter Reports field and then select the Attendance Letters to Parents. 3. In the Letter field, (top of screen), select Absences. 4. In the field directly to the right of the Letter field, select: 5 or more days in this semester if you are processing 1 st Excessive Absences letters (elementary) or 10 or more (secondary). or 10 or more days in this semester if you are processing 2 nd Excessive Absences letters (elementary) or 15 or more (secondary). **For elementary use: 5 or more days this semester Choose this option to process the 1 st Excessive Absences letters (secondary). **For elementary use: 10 or more days this semester Choose this option to process the 2 nd Excessive Absences letters (secondary). SBCUSD Information Technology Page 20

21 5. In the Student Options area select the options shown in this screen shot. Start Date: 1 st day of school End Date: 5 school days back from date letter being generated Elementary schools will not see this area. Leave Checked If this box is unchecked when you click the Print Letters button, it is not counted in the Letter Log. If this happens, letters will run again for the same students. Do not click this button! 6. In the Print Options area select the options shown in this screen shot. The options selected here will print the district s name, your school s name, address, and phone number at the top of the letter. It will also print the date on the left side of the letter and print them sorted by the student s name. If you will be using district letterhead, select the None option. Do not check this option! SBCUSD Information Technology Page 21

22 7. In the Attendance Codes to Count area, verify that the following codes are selected: B-Early Dismissal Excused (ED EXC) (elementary only) E-Excused -and- K-Personal Needs absence codes. 8. Click the button to generate the letters. 9. At the File Download or View Report message, click the Open button when prompted. The letters display in Adobe Reader. Do not close this window!!! Continue with the Save and Print the Letters and labels steps on page 22. You must use the Print Letters, Print List, and Print Labels buttons in succession before you exit this screen. If you exit this screen after using the Print Letters button, the remaining buttons will not work for the batch of letters you just generated! If you forget to print the letters before exiting this screen, you will have to delete the batch of letters then regenerate the letters to print them. Refer to Chapter 4 Understanding the Letter Log Screen for steps to delete a batch of letters. Sample of Excessive Absence Letter (top portion) To view the letters, click on the Record Counter buttons on the toolbar of the Print Preview screen. You might also want to enlarge the letters by clicking the Maximize button or choosing a larger zoom percentage. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 22

23 Save and Print the Letters and a list of students that received a letter Perform the following steps in the exact order as presented!!! 1. While the letters are still displayed on the screen, click the File > Save As command from the Menu bar. If you receive the This document will not allow you to save any changes prompt, click OK. If prompted for the file type, select PDF. 2. Find your Desktop in order to save to where you created the Shortcuts to current year folders. (refer to Chapter 1, Lesson 2 Creating a desktop shortcut to your shared folders). 3. Double-click on the correct folder. 4. In the File name field, enter 1 st or 2 nd Exc Abs Letters with today s date (type how many letters, not pages in parenthesis). See example below. 5. Click the Save button. 6. Click the Print button. 7. Increase the number of copies to 3 and then click the OK button. Distribute the 3 copies as follows: Place one copy in the student s cum folder Place one copy in a 3-ring binder Mail one copy to the parent/guardian 8. Close the Adobe Reader and View Report windows. Do not close the Print Attendance Letters to Parents window yet!!! 9. While still in the Print Attendance Letters to Parents screen, click the button. Use this printout as a working copy to enter attendance notes, share with a counselor, or use for compiling your mandated costs. 10. At the File Download screen, click OK. 11. Click the Print and then the OK button to get a paper copy of this report. 12. Close the Adobe Reader and the View Report windows. Leave the Print Attendance Letters to Parents Report Options screen open if you need mailing labels. You must enter an Attendance Note for every letter generated, go to Student Data > Attendance, locate date of the letter, click on the Note icon. For complete instructions, refer to the Aeries Attendance manual (search for Adding a note to an Attendance Record). SBCUSD Information Technology Page 23

24 Print mailing labels (optional) Follow these steps if you will not be using window envelopes. 1. At the Print Attendance Letters to Parents Report Options screen, click the button. 2. At the File Download window, click Open. Mailing labels for your letters appear in the Adobe Reader screen. 3. Insert a stack of blank mailing labels into the printer (Avery Label 5160 or 3 across by 10 down equivalent). 4. Select the File > Print command from the menu bar. Make sure Actual Size is selected. This will ensure that the text will line up correctly on the labels. 5. Click the Print button and then click OK. 6. Click the Close button to close the Adobe Reader window. 7. Click the Close button to exit the View Report screen. 8. Close the Print Attendance Letters to Parents Report Options screen. If you need to re-run your letters because you forgot to change the date or enter the meeting date and time, you must first delete this batch of letters from the Letter Log. Refer to Chapter 4 Understanding the Letter Log Screen, Deleting a Batch of Letters on page 35 for step-by-step instructions on how to do this. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 24

25 Chapter 3 - Processing Truancy Letters Chapter Objectives Upon the completion of this chapter, you will be able to: Enter a meeting date and time in the 2 nd letters Print letters to parents, student cum folder, and 3-ring binder Print list of students who received a letter Print mailing labels (optional) SBCUSD Information Technology Page 25

26 Lesson 1: Entering meeting date and time into the 2 nd Truancy letters Before you mail the 2 nd Truancy Letters, you will need to enter the date and time of the meeting. This lesson will walk you through the steps to modify these letters to include the date and time of the meeting. 1. Login to Aeries. 2. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Pages icon, type the word TEXT in the Filter Pages field. 3. Select Truancy Click the button to enter the edit mode. 5. Click in the Text for the top portion of the letter area. 6. Scroll to the bottom of this area until you see the paragraph containing the meeting date and time. 7. Drag over the previous date and enter the new date of the meeting. If you are editing the Spanish letter, enter the date in Spanish (refer to the example on the next page). 8. Drag over the previous time and enter the new time of the meeting. DO NOT REMOVE THIS PARAGRAPH FROM THE 2 ND LETTER! Print 2 nd letters on a colored paper to draw attention to appointment date and time! SBCUSD Information Technology Page 26

27 Spanish Translations for Date and Time Monday = lunes Tuesday = martes Wednesday = miercoles Thursday = jueves Friday = viernes January = enero February = febrero March = marzo April = abril May = mayo June = junio July = julio August = agosto September = septiembre October = octubre November = noviembre December = diciembre Use this syntax when entering the meeting date and time: Day of the week, day, month, year, time For example: Tuesday, November 11, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. = martes, 11 de noviembre de 2009 a la(s) 3:00 p.m. 9. Click the button to save your changes. 10. Select the 2 nd Truancy Letter Spanish letter. Refer to the table in Step 3 to identify this letter. 11. Repeat Steps 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Make sure that the date and time of the meeting is identical in both the English and Spanish letters. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 27

28 Lesson 2: Processing the Truancy Letters You are now ready to generate the Truancy Letters. This lesson includes steps to print the letters for the parent/guardian, student cum folder, and 3-ring binder. It also includes instructions on how to print mailing labels if necessary. Step-by-Step 1. Login to Aeries. 2. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Reports icon, type the word PARENT in the Filter Reports field and then select the Attendance Letters to Parents. 3. In the Letter field, (top of screen), select Truancy. 4. In the field directly to the right of the Letter field, select 3 or more days this semester if you are processing the 1 st Truancy letters. If you are processing the 2 nd Truancy Letters, select 6 or more days this semester. Choose this option to process the 1 st Truancy letters. Choose this option to process the 2 nd Truancy letters. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 28

29 5. In the Student Options area select the options shown in this screen shot. Start Date: 1 st day of school End Date: 5 school days back from date letter being generated. Elementary schools will not see this area. Leave Checked If this box is unchecked when you click the Print Letters button, it is not counted in the Letter Log. If this happens, letters will run again for the same students. Do not click this button! 6. In the Print Options area select the options shown in this screen shot. The options selected here will print the district s name, your school s name, address, and phone number at the top of the letter. It will also print the date on the left side of the letter and print them sorted by the student s name. If you will be using district letterhead, select the None option. Do not check this option! SBCUSD Information Technology Page 29

30 7. In the Attendance Codes to Count area, verify that the following codes are selected: A-Absent N-Non-verified U-Unexcused W-Tardy-Unexcused 31+ (elementary only) X-Truant absence codes. 8. Click the button to generate the letters. 9. At the File Download message, click the Open button when prompted. The letters display in Adobe Reader. Do not close this window!!! Continue with the Save and Print the Letters steps on page 36. You must use the Print Letters, Print List, and Print Labels buttons in succession before you exit this screen. If you exit this screen after using the Print Letters button, the remaining buttons will not work for the batch of letters you just generated! SBCUSD Information Technology Page 30

31 Sample of Truancy Letter (top portion) To view the letters, click on the Record Counter buttons on the toolbar of the Print Preview screen. You might also want to enlarge the letters by clicking the Maximize button or choosing a larger zoom percentage. A student may receive a 1 st Truancy Letter for 6 or more absences if the student has not received a 1 st letter for 3 or more unexcused absences yet. Before the 2 nd letter is generated, a 1 st letter has to be generated and mailed no matter how many unexcused absences were attained before the 1 st letter is processed. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 31

32 Save and Print the Letters and a list of students that received a letter Perform the following steps in the exact order as presented!!! 1. While the letters are still displayed on the screen, click the File > Save As command from the Menu bar. If you receive the This document will not allow you to save any changes prompt, click OK. If prompted for the file type, select PDF. 2. Find your Desktop in order to save to where you created the Shortcuts to current year folders. (refer to Chapter 1, Lesson 2 Creating a desktop shortcut to your shared folders). 3. Double-click on the correct folder. 4. In the File name field, enter 1 st or 2 nd Truancy Letters with today s date (type how many letters, not pages, in parenthesis). See example below. 5. Click the Save button. 6. Click the Print button. 7. Increase the number of copies to 3 and then click the OK button. Distribute the 3 copies as follows: Place one copy in the student s cum folder Place one copy in a 3-ring binder Mail one copy to the parent/guardian 8. Close the Adobe Reader and View Report window. Do not close the Print Attendance Letters to Parents window yet!!! 1. While still in the Print Attendance Letters to Parents screen, click the button. Use this printout as a working copy to enter attendance notes, share with a counselor, or use for compiling your mandated costs. You must enter an Attendance Note for every letter generated, go to Student Data > Attendance, locate date of the letter, click on the Note icon. For complete instructions, refer to the Aeries Attendance manual (search for Adding a note to an Attendance Record). 2. At the File Download screen, click OK. 3. Click the Print and then the OK button to get a paper copy of this report. 4. Close the Adobe Reader and the View Report windows. 5. Leave the Print Attendance Letters to Parents Report Options screen open if you need mailing labels. Print mailing labels (optional) Follow the steps on page 22 if you will not be using window envelopes SBCUSD Information Technology Page 32

33 Chapter 4 - Processing Tardy Letters (OPTIONAL) Chapter Objectives Upon the completion of this chapter, you will be able to: Enter a meeting date and time in the 2 nd letters Print letters for parents, student cum folder, and 3-ring binder Print list of students who received a letter Print mailing labels (optional) SBCUSD Information Technology Page 33

34 Lesson 1: Entering meeting date and time into the 2 nd Tardy Letters Before you mail the 2 nd Tardy Letters, you will need to enter the date and time of the meeting. This lesson will walk you through the steps to modify these letters to include the date and time of the meeting. Step-by-Step 1. Login to Aeries. 2. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Pages icon, type the word TEXT in the Filter Pages field and then select the Letters Text Editor. 3. Select the 2 nd Tardy Letter English. 4. Click the button to enter the edit mode. 5. Click in the Text for the bottom portion of the letter area. 6. Scroll to the bottom of this area until you see the paragraph containing the meeting date and time. 7. Drag over the ENTER DATE AND TIME OF MEETING prompt (or previous date if that is what appears) and enter the new date of the meeting. When editing the Spanish letter, enter the date in Spanish (refer to the example on the next page). DO NOT REMOVE THIS PARAGRAPH FROM THE 2 ND LETTER! SBCUSD Information Technology Page 34

35 Spanish Translations for Date and Time Monday = lunes Tuesday = martes Wednesday = miercoles Thursday = jueves Friday = viernes January = enero February = febrero March = marzo April = abril May = mayo June = junio July = julio August = agosto September = septiembre October = octubre November = noviembre December = diciembre Use this syntax when entering the meeting date and time: Day of the week, day, month, year, time For example: Tuesday, November 11, 2010 at 3:00 p.m = martes, 11 de noviembre de 2010 a la(s) 3:00 p.m. 8. Click the button to save your changes. 9. Select the 2 nd Excessive Absences Letter Spanish letter. Refer to the table in Step 3 to identify this letter. 10. Repeat Steps 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Make sure that the date and time of the meeting is identical in both the English and Spanish letters. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 35

36 Lesson 2: Processing the Tardy Letters You are now ready to generate the Tardy Letters. This lesson includes steps to print the letters for the parent/guardian and student cum folder. It also includes instructions on how to print mailing labels if necessary. Step-by-Step 1. Login to Aeries. 2. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Reports Pages icon, type the word PARENT in the Filter Reports field and then select the Attendance Letters to Parents. 3. In the Letter field, (top of screen), select Tardy. 4. In the field directly to the right of the Letter field, select: 10 or more days in this semester (if you are processing 1 st Tardy letters) or 15 or more days in this semester (if you are processing 2 nd Tardy Letters) Choose this option to process 1 st Tardy letters. Choose this option to process 2 nd Tardy letters. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 36

37 5. In the Student Options area select the options shown in this screen shot. Start Date: 1 st day of school End Date: 5 school days back from date letter being generated. Secondary Schools Elementary schools will not see this area. Leave Checked If this box is unchecked when you click the Print Letters button, it is not counted in the Letter Log. If this happens, letters will run again for the same students. Do not click these buttons! 6. In the Print Options area select the options shown in this screen shot. The options selected here will print the district s name, your school s name, address, and phone number at the top of the letter. It will also print the date on the left side of the letter and print them sorted by the student s name. Elementary schools use the Use All-Day attendance code and secondary schools use the Count individual period attendance codes options. If you will be using district letterhead, select the None option. Do not check this option! SBCUSD Information Technology Page 37

38 7. In the Attendance Codes to Count area, verify that the following codes are selected: T-Tardy Unexcused Only use T Tardy. DO NOT USE ANY OTHER ABSENT CODE TO GENERATE TARDY LETTERS. 8. Click the button to generate the letters. 9. At the File Download message, click the Open button when prompted. The letters display in Adobe Reader. Do not close this window!!! Continue with the Save and Print the Letters steps on page 46. Print only 2 copies of this letter. Place one copy in the student cum folder and mail the other copy to the parent/guardian. You must use the Print Letters, Print List, and Print Labels buttons in succession before you exit this screen. If you exit this screen after using the Print Letters button, the remaining buttons will not work for the batch of letters you just generated! If you forget to print the letters before exiting this screen, you will have to delete the batch of letters then regenerate the letters to print them. Refer to Chapter 5 Understanding the Letter Log Screen for steps to delete a batch of letters. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 38

39 Sample of Tardy Letter (top portion) To view the letters, click on the Record Counter buttons on the toolbar of the Print Preview screen. You might also want to enlarge the letters by clicking the Maximize button or choosing a larger zoom percentage. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 39

40 Save and Print the Letters Perform the following steps in the exact order as presented!!! 1. While the letters are still displayed on the screen, click the File > Save As command from the Menu bar. If you receive the This document will not allow you to save any changes prompt, click OK. If prompted for the file type, select PDF. 2. Find your Desktop in order to save to where you created the Shortcuts to current year folders. (refer to Chapter 1, Lesson 2 Creating a desktop shortcut to your shared folders). 3. Double-click on the correct folder. 4. In the File name field, enter 1 st or 2 nd Tardy Letters with today s date (type how many letters, not pages, in parenthesis). See example below. 5. Click the Save button. 6. Click the Print button. 7. Increase the number of copies to 2 and then click the OK button. Distribute the 2 copies as follows: Place one copy in the student s cum folder Mail one copy to the parent/guardian 8. Close the Adobe Reader and View Report window. Do not close the Print Attendance Letters to Parents window yet!!! 6. While still in the Print Attendance Letters to Parents screen, click the button. Use this printout as a working copy to enter attendance notes, share with a counselor, or use for compiling your mandated costs. You must enter an Attendance Note for every letter generated, go to Student Data > Attendance, locate date of the letter, click on the Note icon. For complete instructions, refer to the Aeries Attendance manual (search for Adding a note to an Attendance Record). 7. At the File Download screen, click OK. 8. Click the Print and then the OK button to get a paper copy of this report. 9. Close the Adobe Reader and the View Report windows. 10. Leave the Print Attendance Letters to Parents Report Options screen open if you need mailing labels. Print mailing labels (optional) Follow the steps on page 22 if you will not be using window envelopes SBCUSD Information Technology Page 40

41 SBCUSD Information Technology Page 41 Aeries Excessive Absences, Truancy, and Tardy Letters

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43 Chapter 5 Understanding the Letter Log Screen Chapter Objectives Upon the completion of this chapter, you will be able to: Navigate to the Letter Log screen View letter mailed to one student View letters mailed to all students Filter the Letter Log by date, user name, and letter ID Display letter detail Delete one letter/delete a batch of letters Retrieve batch of letters from desktop folders Print Letter Log SBCUSD Information Technology Page 43

44 Lesson 1: Finding letters that have been mailed to parents (in Aeries) The instructions in this lesson will walk you through the procedure to display letters that have been mailed. It also includes instructions on how to delete a letter record for one student and delete an entire batch of letters in Aeries should you discover that you made a mistake. Step-by-Step Display Letters to one student 1. Login in to Aeries.net. 2. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Pages icon. 3. In the Filter Pages field, type letter. 4. Select Letter Log. Verify that you are on the Students tab. 5. Select a student from the drop-down arrow. 6. A list of letters that have been mailed to the selected student s parent/guardian appears in date order. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 44

45 Display Letters to all students 1. Login in to Aeries.net. 2. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Pages icon. 3. In the Filter Pages field, type letter. 4. Select Letter Log. 5. Click on the Letter ID tab. A list of letters for the current year appears. 6. Follow the text instructions surrounding the screen shot below to display letters for all years, specific date, specific user, and/or letter ID. Check the Limit To Current Year option to display current year only. Check the Limit Date option and then select a date from drop-down list to display one batch of letters. Check the Limit User option and then select the desired user to display a batch generated by a single user. Select the letter type that you want to view here (e.g., Excessive Absences, Truancy, or Tardy). Select a student whose absence record you want to view. The code detail appears to the right. This procedure uses the All Day code to process these letters. To sort the list of records by Student Name, click to put a check mark in the Sort by Student Name check box. Include inactives if you need records from students that have left your site. To view the actual batch of letters that were mailed out by your site for a specific date, go to the Letter folders you created on your desktop. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 45

46 Deleting a single letter from the letter log If a parent calls to clear an absence and this student has a letter in the batch that is about to be mailed, pull the letter and write across the face of it that the letter was pulled. Keep the letter filed in the 3-ring binder for audit purposes. Do not delete this letter reference from the Aeries Letter Log. Deleting a batch of letters from the letter log If you forget to change the date at the top of the letter or enter the meeting date and time on the 2 nd Excessive Absences or Truancy Letters, delete the entire batch of letters from the Letter Log so you can correct the date and then regenerate the letters again. 1. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Pages icon. 2. In the Filter Pages field, type letter and then select Letter Log. 3. Click on the Letter ID tab. A list of letters for the current year appears. 4. From the Letter ID screen, click on the Delete an Entire Transaction button (bottom of screen). The Letter Transactions screen displays. 5. Scroll to the right to see the dates. 6. Click to select the Letter ID/Date. A check mark appears in the Delete? column. Do not delete another user s letters. Contact Youth Services if you want assistance with deleting letters from Aeries. 7. Click on the Delete Transaction button. 8. At the Are you sure you want to delete this transaction message, click OK. 9. Wait until the next day and then follow the steps in the Processing Excessive Absences Letters (Chapter 2, Lesson 2), Processing Truancy Letters (Chapter 3, Lesson 2), or Processing Tardy Letters (Chapter 4, Lesson 2) to re-generate the letters. Remember to change the meeting date and time in the 2 nd letter (Lesson 1 in Chapters 2, 3, and 4) before generating the letters again. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 46

47 Lesson 2: Retrieving your electronic batch of letters The instructions in this lesson will walk you through locating any batch of Excessive Absences, Truancy, or Tardy letters that were generated by your site in this year and any previous year. Step-by-Step 1. Navigate to your computer s desktop. 2. Point to the current year letter folders you created. 3. Double-click on the desired folder to open it. 4. Point to the folder in the year the letters were generated (e.g., ; ) and double-click to open that year s folder. 5. Double-click on the desired batch of letters (e.g., 1 st Exc Abs Letters (22). pdf) Click the Close button to close the My Computer window. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 47

48 Lesson 3: Printing the Letter Log The instructions in this lesson will detail the steps to print a letter log report for one student or many students. Print Letter Log for one student 1. Login in to Aeries.net. 2. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Pages icon. 3. In the Filter Pages field, type letter. 4. Select Letter Log. Verify that you are on the Students tab. 5. Select a student from the drop-down arrow. 6. A list of letters that have been mailed to the selected student s parent/guardian appears in date order. 7. Click the Print button (bottom right-hand corner of screen). The Print Options dialog box appears. 8. If you want to include details of each letter, click to place a check mark in the Include Letter Audit records on Letter Log report option. Refer to screen shot below for an example of letter details. 9. Click Run Report and then View Report. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 48

49 Print Letter Log for multiple students 1. Login in to Aeries.net. 2. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Pages icon. 3. In the Filter Pages field, type letter. 4. Select Letter Log. 5. Verify that you are on the Letter ID tab. 6. Check mark the box for Limit to Current Year. 7. Select the Letter ID (type) you wish to have print. 8. Select any of the options at the bottom you wish to use. 9. Click the Print button (bottom right-hand corner of screen). The Print Options dialog box appears. 10. If you want to include details of each letter, click to place a check mark in the Include Letter Audit records on Letter Log report option. 11. Click Run Report. 12. Click View Report. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 49

50 Chapter 6 Appendix Chapter Objectives Upon the completion of this chapter, you will be able to: Generating SART Contracts Query to find SART students Solve common excessive absences and truancy letter problems SBCUSD Information Technology Page 50

51 Lesson 1: SART Contracts The steps in this section will generate a SART Contract with the student information already inserted. Hand this contract out to the parent/guardian at your SART meeting along with a printout of the student s attendance. There is a Spanish and an English Contract. The report only works after the Truancy 2, Excessive Absence 2, or Tardy 2 letter notes have been entered in the Student s Aeries Attendance notes. So make sure the notes have been entered after generating the truancy letters. Refer to page 25, 35, or 45 for instruction on how to enter Attendance Notes. 1. Click on the Reports icon and then type SART in the Filter Field. 2. Select the report needed and then click on Run Report. You may be prompted to login to the Report Server. 3. Select the Year. 4. Select your School. 5. Select the correct letter run Date. 6. Select the Meeting Date from the calendar field. This is the date of the meeting and will show at the top of the letter. 7. Click the View Report button to generate the report. If you need address labels, follow these steps before going on: 8. Click the title of the contract. This will drop the data into the Report Viewer window. 9. Click the Floppy Disk icon drop-down arrow and select Excel. 10. Click on the Excel file download. Usually it will appear in the lower left corner of your screen. 11. From within the Excel window, delete the first 3 rows so that only the column titles remain. 12. Save the file using a generic file name (e.g., SART Contract Labels) in a location that you will remember easily. When saving future files to merge into labels, save on top of this generic name and replace. 13. Start Word and setup a Mail Merge into Avery 5160 Label using the file you saved in the step above as your Data Source. Contact I.T. at (909) if you need assistance setting up a Mail Merge in Word. 14. Close the Excel file and go back to the initial Run Report window where you selected Year, Date, etc. 15. Click the floppy disk icon and then select PDF. 16. Read through the Contract(s) to verify that all the information is correctly entered. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 51

52 17. Save if needed using File Save As. 18. Get all signatures and then make your copies. 19. Place original in the student s cum folder. The copy is for the parent/guardian at the SART meeting. 20. Close the Adobe Acrobat window. 21. Return to Aeries and print the student s attendance and attach it to the SART Contract. Student Data > Attendance > Print button. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 52

53 Lesson 2: Query to identify SART/SARB students The instructions in this lesson will detail how to find and run a query to identify students with specific Attendance Notes. For example, you may want to know which students received SART letters on a specific date or who to refer to SARB. 1. From the Navigation Tree, click on the Pages icon. 2. Type Query in the Filter Pages field and then select Query. 3. Click on the Load button (right side of screen). A screen opens with a list of available queries appears. 4. Click in the Query Name Filter field, enter SART, and then press the [Enter] key. A list of queries with sart in its name appears. Use ATT SART/SARB Data query to identify students who have a specific Attendance Code entered on a specific date. This list would be helpful to prepare a list of students to refer to SARB. The date and code listed at the end of the query can be changed to suit your needs. The results from this query (in the Excel format) is also useful for mail merging into the SART contract. The query will list students who show an SO attendance code on 09/10/09. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 53

54 Use the SARB (800) Students to list student name, ID, grade, and program code LIST STU PGM STU.NM STU.ID STU.GR PGM.CD IF PGM.CD = 800 Use the 800/SARB Students to list student name, ID, grade, program code and comments) LIST STU PGM STU.NM STU.ID STU.GR PGM.CD PGM.ESD PGM.CO IF PGM.CD = 800 Use the ATT Lists for Att. Notes (SART & Mandated Costs) query at the end of the month to prepare your mandated costs report. The starting and ending dates at the end of the query can be changed to meet your needs. This query will list students with any attendance code between the dates 03/01/2009 and 03/31/ Drag over the date(s) toward the end of the query and type the date you want to query on (i.e., if you want SART/SARB data for August, then type 08/01/2011 over 03/01/2009 and 08/31/2011 over 09/10/09). 6. Drag over the ATN.CO code (e.g., SO) and enter the desired attendance code (e.g., SL). Refer to the Attendance Code to the right to find the code you want. 7. Click the Excel button (right side of screen) and a list of students appear. 8. To save the list to use as a data source to mail merge into an attendance contract, give the File > Save As commend. 9. To print the list, give the File > Print command within Excel. 10. Close all windows to return to the Query screen. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 54

55 Lesson 3: Common problems The questions and answers in this lesson will assist you in troubleshooting the most common problems that may arise when processing excessive absences, truancy, and tardy letters. Question I generated my excessive absences, truancy, or tardy letters, but only a few were created. Answer Make sure the Use All Day Attendance Codes option is selected in the View All Reports > Attendance Letters to Parents screen. Question I saved my letters but now I can t find them. Answer All letters should be saved on your site s P Drive. Open the My Computer icon on your desktop and navigate to the P:\Aeries\Truancy window. From here the path has changed slightly from year to year so you may have to study the contents of this window to find your letters. If you did not save them on the P drive, then you will have to run the Search command (Start > Search) to try and find them using this file location tool. You may contact one of the support team mentioned at the beginning of this guide for assistance. Question I generated my letters, printed them, but forgot to save them on my P drive. Answer You will have to delete these letters from the letter log and regenerate them on the next day. Follow the steps in Chapter 5, Lesson 1 Finding letters that have been mailed to parents. SBCUSD Information Technology Page 55