Processing Guardian Entered Absence Requests

You can process the absence requests entered by guardians in Family Access to create student attendance records for the necessary periods. During this process, you must choose the appropriate absence type that best suits the guardian's entered reason. Once this process is complete, the student's attendance details are updated and the guardian's request is approved. If you do not process the individual guardian requests, the student's attendance record will not be updated. You can also remove the absence request if the record was created in error or does not meet your organization's attendance criteria.

Scroll past the video to access the step-by-step instructions.

Before you begin

Audio Transcript

Processing guardian entered absence requests enables you to quickly create attendance records for students based on details entered through Family Access. Let’s begin by navigating to the Guardian Entered Requests feature within the Attendance module. Here, we see any requests that have been created through Family Access. We’ll notice our filter is set to Pending Requests. We can also update this filter as needed if we only want to see requests with a certain status. From here, we can select the drop-down icon to the left of the request we want to process and choose Process Request. We can also open the desired request to continue the process. For our example, we’ll open this guardian entered request. We’ll see the details that were entered by the guardian and cannot modify any of these fields. Let’s click Process Request to continue. Under the Quick Entry heading, we’ll see the same information that the guardian provided when the absence request was created. We’ll leave all this information as is and begin entering additional information now. Let’s select an attendance type for the Type field. We’ll notice that the Type and Reason columns under the Attendance heading autofill on the right side of the screen. These populate from the Type and Reason fields on the left side of the screen. The Guardian Comment field defaults with information entered by the guardian. Let’s provide our own comment using this information for the Period Comment field. We could simply copy the guardian’s comment and paste it into this field or click the Copy from Guardian Comment option to clone the information over. As a comment is entered, we’ll see an Eye icon display to the right of the field. We can use this option to hide this comment from specific areas of the software. Since we want this comment to be visible, we’ll click Cancel. The same will occur as we enter or copy a comment into the Day Comment field. We can reply to the guardian if we’d like. If an attachment was added by a guardian, we could view that here, as well as add our own attachment if needed. If we’d like to process additional requests at this time, we could select Save & Next Request. For this example, we’ll click Save & Back. Now that you’ve processed guardian entered absence requests, students who will be out will have attendance records created.

Processing guardian entered absence requests enables you to quickly create attendance records for students based on details entered through Family Access. Let’s begin by navigating to the Guardian Entered Requests feature within the Attendance module. Here, we see any requests that have been created through Family Access. We’ll notice our filter is set to Pending Requests. We can also update this filter as needed if we only want to see requests with a certain status. From here, we can select the drop-down icon to the left of the request we want to process and choose Process Request. We can also open the desired request to continue the process. For our example, we’ll open this guardian entered request. We’ll see the details that were entered by the guardian and cannot modify any of these fields. Let’s click Process Request to continue. Under the Quick Entry heading, we’ll see the same information that the guardian provided when the absence request was created. We’ll leave all this information as is and begin entering additional information now. Let’s select an attendance type for the Type field. We’ll notice that the Type and Reason columns under the Attendance heading autofill on the right side of the screen. These populate from the Type and Reason fields on the left side of the screen. The Guardian Comment field defaults with information entered by the guardian. Let’s provide our own comment using this information for the Period Comment field. We could simply copy the guardian’s comment and paste it into this field or click the Copy from Guardian Comment option to clone the information over. As a comment is entered, we’ll see an Eye icon display to the right of the field. We can use this option to hide this comment from specific areas of the software. Since we want this comment to be visible, we’ll click Cancel. The same will occur as we enter or copy a comment into the Day Comment field. We can reply to the guardian if we’d like. If an attachment was added by a guardian, we could view that here, as well as add our own attachment if needed. If we’d like to process additional requests at this time, we could select Save & Next Request. For this example, we’ll click Save & Back. Now that you’ve processed guardian entered absence requests, students who will be out will have attendance records created.


  1. Select Menu > Administrative Access > Attendance.
  2. Select Guardian Entered Requests under Features.
    Expected Result

    You see the Guardian Entered Requests screen.

  3. Click the drop-down icon to the left of the absence request you wish to process.
    Expected Result

    You see the Record Options drop-down menu.

  4. Select Process Request from the menu.
    Expected Result

    You see the Process Guardian Entered Requests screen, which displays three areas: Quick Entry, Attendance, and Current Attendance. The Quick Entry area enables you to view the details guardians entered on behalf of the student, as well as modify additional attendance details to complete the attendance record.

    To the right of the Quick Entry area, you see the Attendance area and a column of period numbers. This column populates based on what you enter in the Quick Entry area. This is where you can make modifications for individual class periods if you need to update student attendance records further. As you enter the attendance entry information in the Quick Entry area, the system auto-fills the Attendance area to the right with appropriate entries. Grayed-out periods indicate the student is not scheduled into class during those periods.

    Under those two areas, you see a Current Attendance display for the student. This is useful if you wish to verify the attendance on the selected date was recorded correctly. The display includes absent or tardy days only for the school year you are working in. For each record, you see the date, Day Rotation code, and the guardian notified indicator. The attendance recorded for each period for that day displays in a row across the screen. This area is view-only.

    If the student has an existing attendance record already entered for the same day, you can select Process Request with Existing Attendance near the top left of the screen. This guardian entered request will process with the same information from the previously entered request. No further steps are required.

  5. Note: All fields in steps 5 - 10 and 13 default based on the guardian entered attendance record. Some of these values may be hard-coded based on the information the guardian entered and cannot be modified. You should complete the following fields based on your organization's attendance criteria.
    Under the Quick Entry heading, verify the Start Date or enter the correct date if necessary.
    Step Information

    This defaults based on the guardian entered request in Family Access, but can be modified if necessary.

  6. Verify the End Date or enter the correct date if necessary.
    Step Information

    This defaults based on the guardian entered request in Family Access, but can be modified if necessary.

  7. Verify the All Day box is checked or unchecked as necessary.
    Expected Result

    If the All Day box is checked, skip to step 10.

    If the All Day box is unchecked, the Start Time and End Time fields display and the Start Period and End Period fields are enabled. Continue to the next step.

  8. Verify the Start Time or click the Clock icon to enter the current time if necessary.
  9. Verify the End Time or click the Clock icon to enter the current time if necessary.
  10. Verify the Start Period or enter the correct Attendance Period if necessary.
  11. Verify the End Period or enter the correct attendance period if necessary.
    Step Information

    This specifies the attendance period on which the attendance record should conclude.

  12. Verify the Guardian Reason is correct.
    Step Information

    This defaults based on the guardian entered request in Family Access and cannot be modified.

  13. Enter the Type or click the Down Arrow icon to choose from the drop-down list.
    Step Information

    You must enter a type or the attendance record will not be created.

  14. Verify the Reason or enter the correct reason if necessary.
    Step Information

    This defaults based on the guardian entered request in Family Access and cannot be modified.

  15. Verify the Guardian Comment is correct.
    Step Information

    This defaults based on the guardian entered request in Family Access and cannot be modified.

  16. Enter a Period Comment if appropriate.
    Step Information

    You can click Copy from Guardian Comment to the right of the field to copy the guardian comment into the attendance record.

    Expected Result

    If you entered a comment, the View icon displays to the right of the field. Continue to the next step.

    If you did not enter a comment, skip to step 20.

  17. Click the View icon to the right of the Period Comment field if you wish to adjust the privacy settings.
    Expected Result

    You see the Mass Attendance Comment Privacy Settings pop-up window.

  18. Check the box for each portal you wish to Hide Comments In.
    Step Information

    You can use the Select checkbox if you wish to check or uncheck all options.

  19. Click Done near the bottom right of the window.
    Expected Result

    You return to the Process Guardian Entered Requests screen.

  20. Enter a Day Comment if appropriate.
    Step Information

    You can click Copy from Guardian Comment to the right of the field to copy the guardian comment into the attendance record.

    Expected Result

    If you entered a comment, the View icon displays to the right of the field. Continue to the next step.

    If you did not enter a comment, skip to step 24.

  21. Click the View icon to the right of the Comment field if you wish to adjust the privacy settings.
    Expected Result

    You see the Attendance Comment Privacy Settings pop-up window.

  22. Check the box for each portal you wish to Hide Comments In.
    Step Information

    You can use the Select checkbox if you wish to check or uncheck all options.

  23. Click Done near the bottom right of the window.
    Expected Result

    You return to the Process Guardian Entered Requests screen.

  24. Enter the Reply to Guardian if appropriate.
    Step Information

    The information you enter will display for the guardian in the School Comment column on the Absence Request tab of the Student Attendance screen in Family Access.

    If the guardian added any attachments, continue to the next step.

    If the guardian did not add any attachments and you wish to add an attachment, skip to step 26.

    If the guardian did not add any attachments and you do not wish to add an attachment, skip to step 28.

  25. Click Guardian Attachments if you wish to view the attachments for the absence request.
  26. Click Close near the bottom right of the window.
    Expected Result

    You return to the Process Guardian Entered Requests screen.

    If you wish to add an attachment, continue to the next step.

    If you do not wish to add an attachment, skip to step 28.

  27. Click Add Attachments if you wish to add an attachment to the absence request.
  28. Choose one of the options near the top left of the screen to save your work.
    OptionDescription
    Save & Back Saves your changes and you return to the Guardian Entered Requests screen.
    Save & Next Request Saves your changes and the Process Guardian Entered Requests screen refreshes to display the next absence request waiting to be processed.