Parent Portal Settings

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Parent Portal Settings are organized into several sections. These settings allow you to customize the information families can access and the actions they can perform in the portal.

Go to the Gear icon > Settings > Parent Portal and follow the instructions in this article to help you set up your Parent Portal.

Note: Changes made on the Parent Portal Settings page are saved automatically.

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Display Settings

Click the Go to the Parent Portal quick link to access the login page. Make sure the Activate Portal checkbox is selected - this enables Parent Portal access and will also add a direct login link for existing customers to the top of the Online Registration Form.

The following settings control what families will be able to see when they are logged into their Parent Portal accounts.

Transactions	Determines what appears on the Billing & Payments page. When selected, recent transaction activity is shown, and parents can view, sort, and filter their account transaction history.
Students	Controls the visibility of the Students section under Account. When selected, families can quickly view each student’s schedule, summary details, and photo (if one is uploaded). They can also click on a student’s card to see more detailed information. Additionally, new students can be added directly from this section.
Student Schedule	Controls the My Schedule section on the Dashboard and the Enrollment option on the Student page. Both sections show the student’s classes, Appointments, and any waitlisted classes.
Enroll	When selected, the Enroll menu option lets parents search for classes by selecting Activities > Find Classes. If enrollment through the Parent Portal is disabled, parents can still view class details but will see a message prompting them to contact your organization directly to enroll.
Event Registration	Controls the ability to enroll in Events. When selected, a Find Events option becomes available under the Activities menu. Parents can browse events and register either a student or the whole family, depending on event settings.

Communication Settings

These settings manage your email communications, login message, and if the Parent Portal video is visible on the login page.

"Reply to" and "Send Alert to" Email Address(es)	Provide the email address where you want to receive notifications for enrollments, payments, and parent messages.  If you prefer the portal notifications emails be sent to the location email instead, use the Gear icon > Settings > Online Registration > Settings > Email Confirmation Settings and set Use Location Email Address if Available to Yes.
Send email alert to your organization for	Select which Parent Portal activities you would like to receive an email alert for - Updates to Policies, Updates to Payment Method, and/or Student Enrollments.
Send email alert to parent for	Select the checkbox to send an email to the parent's email address on file when a student is enrolled in a class.  Optionally: Show Class Dates in Email Confirmation When set to Yes, the Class Start and End dates will be included in the email. Show Category 1 in Email Confirmation This setting defaults to No. If you would like to include the Category 1 value of the class in the email confirmation, set this to Yes.
Login Page Message	Text entered here appears in a pop-up window on the Parent Portal login page, which is visible to all users before they sign in. This is a great spot for a welcome message or important announcements you'd like to share with all families. HTML is supported for formatting.
Show link to Portal video on Login Page	When selected,  a Watch Video link will be available for your parents to watch a quick (3:03) instructional video on the Parent Portal.
Portal Video Message	This text field is only available when the Show link to Portal video on Login Page is selected. Text entered here will appear before the Watch Video link and can be used to bring attention to what the video offers.

Family Information Settings

This section determines what parents can do inside their Parent Portal.  

Update Contact and Student Information	Controls the ability to update phone numbers, email, addresses,  student birthdate, etc.
Update ePayment Schedule	Allows the parent to update the family's ePayment Schedule (located on the Billing Info tab of the family record).
Update Membership Type	Allows the parent to update the family's Membership Type (located on the Billing Info tab of the family record).
Hide School/Grade fields	Option to hide these fields in student details.
Gender	Controls the options for student gender selection. If hidden, the gender option will not be displayed in the Parent Portal. Note: The gender option setting will not be shown if the Student Settings for Hide Gender is set to Yes. (Gear icon > Settings > General > Organization Defaults (left menu) > Student Settings)
Add Students	Allows the parent to add new student to their family account.
Show Student Skills	If tracking skills in Jackrabbit, parents can see student skills and instructor notes on each Student's page.
Show Student Absences/Attendance	Controls whether or not the Absence or Attendance tab is available in the student record in the portal.
Show Attendance Issues	Attendance issues are when a student has been marked present and additional details have been added (Late, Left Early, Observing). Choose to show this information to parents in the Parent Portal or hide it.

Family and Student User Defined Fields

Define which of your custom User Defined Fields are able to be seen and edited in the portal. User Defined Fields are customized from the Gear icon > Settings > General > User Defined Fields (left menu) and can be used on the Online Registration Form as well as shown inside the Portal. Responses that parents provide through their portal appear on the Misc tab of both Family and Student records.

Fees & Payments Settings

These settings determine which transaction details are shown in the Transaction History section under Billing & Payments in the Parent Portal.

My Classes Settings

These settings control what information is displayed in the class cards seen in My Schedule (Dashboard). If a student is on a waitlist for a class, the class will be shown below the enrolled Classes.

Show Instructors (Displays Public Nicknames)	To display instructors on class cards in the Parent Portal, set this option to Yes. If a nickname is entered in the staff member’s record, it will be shown. When set to No, instructor details will be hidden from view.
Show Substitutes (Displays Public Nicknames)	To have substitute information displayed on class cards in the Parent Portal, set this to Yes. Parents can select the Upcoming Substitutes link to view details. When set to No, no information about the substitute will display.
Show Student Start Date	This displays the student’s enrollment date. If the class hasn’t started yet, the class start date will be shown instead.
Show Student Drop Date	Display a scheduled future drop date for a student, if one has been set.
Show Class Start and End Dates	When selected, this option displays the class start and end dates as defined on the Summary tab of the Class record.
Show Category 1 Value	When set to Yes, the Category 1 value on the class will be displayed in the Parent Portal on all schedule pages.

Class Enrollment Settings

Enroll Students	Select to allow parents to enroll students in classes and events in the Portal.
Hide Instructor Filter	Hide the option to filter classes by an instructor.
Allow enrollment at any location	Select this option if you have multiple locations and want to allow families to enroll in classes or events at any location.
Prevent Inactive Families from Enrolling	Select to prevent inactive families (no actively enrolled students) from enrolling in classes.
Prevent Problem Families from enrolling in Classes and Events	When selected, this setting will prevent families flagged as a Problem Account from enrolling in classes and events.
Require policy agreement for each enrollment	Select this checkbox to require families to agree to your policies each time they enroll a student.
Class Enrollment Openings (includes makeups)	Display or hide the number of available spots in each class listing. Scheduled makeups are included in the opening count. Classes with 5 or fewer openings appear highlighted in orange. If you plan to use online waitlisting, we recommend keeping the Openings column visible.
Enrollment Comment Label	Use this text field to ask a custom question during enrollment. The response will appear in the enrollment notification email.  Define whether this is required or not.
Inactive Family Enrollment Message	Use this when you have also selected Prevent Inactive Families from enrolling. Text entered here will display to an inactive family if they attempt to enroll.

On the right are settings that control the listing of classes in the Parent Portal.

Control whether parents can narrow their class search by showing or hiding the Category and Day filters. This only removes the filtering options - the columns will still be visible in the class listings. 

Choose whether or not to show the Class Start Date, Instructor Nickname, and/or Category 1 Value in the listing of classes.

Tips regarding filters

• You can change the Category labels to words that are more descriptive to your parents.  For example, you can rename Category 1 to Program or Type. Go to the Gear icon > Settings > Online Registration > Settings (left menu)> Class Search Settings.
  Note: This affects both the Portal and Online Registration Form display.
• You can eliminate certain Categories from the drop-down selection list.  For example, you may have a Category 1 called Costume Fees that you use for revenue reporting only and don't want your parents to see this in the Portal. To prevent non-applicable Categories from being listed as a choice in the drop-down filter list, go to the Gear icon > Settings > General > Drop-down Lists (left menu) > Category 1 (or 2 or 3), and select the Hide from customers checkbox by any Category that you do not want to appear as a filter selection 
  Note: This affects both the Portal and Online Registration Form display.

Accepting Donations

Jackrabbit offers the ability to collect charitable donations from your families in the Parent Portal and allows you to set the donation amounts. 

See our Help Center article Accept Charitable Donations in Jackrabbit for setup instructions and more details.