The School Features section in SteepleMate is designed to help organizations with tuition-based programs manage their administrative tasks, such as scheduling, tuition handling, and lunch management. These settings allow you to tailor the system to suit your specific school operations. This guide will walk you through configuring the school-related options.

Step 1: Accessing School Features

1. Go to the Administration Menu
   From your SteepleMate dashboard, click on "Organization Settings".

2. Open the School Features Section
   Select "School Features" to access the configuration options for school-related tasks.

Step 2: Managing the School Menu Visibility

If your organization doesn’t utilize the school features, you can simplify your interface by hiding the school menu.

1. Hide the School Menu
   Click on the "Hide the School Menu" option to remove the school-related menu items from the system, decluttering the interface for users not involved with school activities.

Step 3: Setting Permissions for School-Related Tasks

SteepleMate allows you to assign special permissions to specific groups within your organization to manage various school-related tasks.

1. Assign Permissions
   Choose the group(s) that will have the authority to create and manage school activities such as:
   • Lunch Events
   • Attendance Tracking
   • Report Generation
   • Editing Tuition and Lunch Accounts

This ensures that only designated individuals can perform critical administrative functions.

Step 4: Forwarding Parent Messages

To improve communication, you can automatically forward important messages from parents to school administrators via text.

1. Enable Forwarding
   Select the "Forward Parent Messages" option to ensure that messages sent by parents are forwarded as text messages to school administrators, ensuring timely communication.

Step 5: Configuring the School Schedule

To ensure your academic year is accurately reflected in SteepleMate, you can set up the school schedule.

Start and End Dates

1. Set the School Year
   Define the Start Date and End Date for the academic year. These dates must be updated annually to reflect the correct school calendar.

Automatic Attendance Creation

2. Automate Attendance
   Enable Automatic Attendance Creation to generate attendance forms automatically before the school day begins. You can customize the timing for when the attendance forms are created.

Exclusions/Holidays

3. Specify Non-School Days
   Add exclusions for non-school days, such as holidays or teacher workdays, to prevent attendance forms from being generated on those days.

Daily School Start Time

4. Set the Start Time
   Input the daily start time for your school. This helps the system generate and manage schedules and events based on your school hours.

Step 6: Configuring School Tuition

Managing tuition payments is easy with SteepleMate’s flexible tuition settings.

Payment Category

1. Set Payment Categories
   Choose the payment category that applies to tuition, such as "Monthly Tuition" or "Semester Tuition."

Billing Frequency

2. Choose Billing Frequency
   Determine how often tuition is billed. Common options include monthly, quarterly, or annually.

Tuition Amount and Due Dates

3. Set the Tuition Amount
   Define the tuition amount for each billing cycle.

4. Set Due Dates
   Establish a grace period before tuition is considered late. If tuition is overdue, you can also apply a Late Fee.

Step 7: Managing School Lunches

SteepleMate simplifies lunch management through automated processes and custom alerts.

Payment Category

1. Set Lunch Payment Category
   Specify the payment category for school lunches, such as "Daily Lunch" or "Meal Plan."

Lunch Period Start Time

2. Set Lunch Period Start Time
   Define the time when lunch begins each day to help organize daily schedules and meal plans.

Automate Lunch Events and Posting

3. Automatic Lunch Event Creation
   Enable Automatic Lunch Event Creation to automatically schedule lunch events, and set the time when these events should be created.

4. Automatic Daily Lunch Posting
   Schedule when lunch charges should be posted to students’ lunch accounts. This ensures accurate tracking of charges and balances.

Low Balance Alerts

5. Send Low Balance Alerts
   Set up alerts to notify parents or guardians when a student’s lunch account balance is running low. This helps ensure lunch accounts are replenished in time.

Step 8: Save Your Changes

Once you’ve customized the settings for school features, make sure to:

• Click "Save" to apply and store all changes.