Add parents and guardians and send their invitation

Add parents and guardians and send their invitation

Summary: You add a parent or guardian from the Parents/Guardians page in the Account Admin area, attach them to their child or children, and then invite them to join. Switch to Account Admin, go to People and open Parents/Guardians, then click Add Parent/Guardian. Enter the parent's first and last name and email address; phone number and address are optional. Attach the parent to each of their children using the child search field, set their role, and click Submit. The parent lands in Invitation Pending. You can invite them individually from the three-dots menu or wait and invite parents in bulk. After you send an invitation the parent moves to Invited, and once they click the link in their email and accept, they move to Active.

Who can do this

Adding and inviting parents and guardians happens in the Account Admin area, so it requires that level of access. Account Owners and Administrators can add parents and guardians.

The way to tell is the context switcher in the upper-right corner. If you can switch to Account Admin, you can add parents and guardians. If you only see your classroom there, you do not have permission, and you will need to ask an administrator for help.

Step-by-step

1. Switch to Account Admin. Use the context switcher in the upper-right corner and select Account Admin.
2. Open the Parents/Guardians page. Go to People in the left menu and open Parents/Guardians.
3. Add a parent or guardian. Click Add Parent/Guardian.
4. Enter their name and email. Enter the parent's first and last name, then their email address.
5. Add phone and address (optional). After the email, you can either skip or add the phone number and physical address.
6. Attach them to their children. Attach the parent to their child or children and set the role. See "Attaching a parent to more than one child" below.
7. Submit. When you are done, click Submit. The parent now appears under Invitation Pending.
8. Send the invitation. Leave the parent in Invitation Pending until you are ready, or send an invitation now by clicking the three-dots menu and choosing Send invitation. See "How invitation status works" below.

Attaching a parent to more than one child

The child picker is a search field. Type the child's last name and it pulls up each child with that name, then select the correct one. If the parent has only one child, attach that child and stop. If they have more than one, attach each child in turn, set the parent's role for each, and add another child until all of their children are attached. You will see all the children listed as attached to the parent before you submit.

How invitation status works

Parents move through three categories as you invite them:

• Invitation Pending, the parent has been added and attached to their children but not yet invited. You can leave them here until you are ready to invite parents in bulk.
• Invited, once you send the invitation, the parent moves here automatically and waits until they accept.
• Active, the parent moves here after they click the link in their invitation email and accept it.

Inviting now or in bulk

You do not have to invite parents the moment you add them. You can let them sit in Invitation Pending and invite all your parents together when you are ready, or send invitations one at a time. To invite an individual parent, click the three-dots menu next to them and choose Send invitation.

If a parent did not receive their invitation

The invitation link is valid for a limited number of days. If a parent does not accept within that time, the link expires. To fix this, you simply resend the invitation, which issues a new token. You can resend from the per-row three-dots menu by choosing Resend Invitation, or use Resend All Invites to resend to everyone who has not yet accepted. If a parent reports they never received the invitation, check that their email address is entered correctly. If the address is correct, contact Montessori Compass support and we will help you troubleshoot.

A few things worth knowing

• You must be in the Account Admin role to add parents and guardians.
• Only first name, last name, and email are needed; phone number and address are optional.
• A parent can be attached to more than one child, with a role set for each child.
• Adding a parent does not invite them, so they sit in Invitation Pending until you send the invitation.
• The invitation link expires after a limited number of days; if it lapses you simply resend the invitation (via the per-row three-dots menu, Resend Invitation, or Resend All Invites), which issues a new token.

Related articles

• Create a student
• Assign students to a classroom
• User roles and the Account Admin area

Watch the video

Here is a short video covering this topic for additional reference.