Advancement · Communications

Every family,
fifteen minutes,
no double booking.

A conference planner for teachers: set the days and the slot length, and it builds the schedule, the hallway sign-up sheet and an invitation with the open times. You record each booking as families reply.

Open the plannerWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Development and giving kit, $39 for 19 items.

The planner

The worked example is a made-up grade 4 class with 20 families over two days. Change anything; the plan saves in this browser as you go.

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What you get

Advancement · Communications$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A conference schedule with every slot worked out around your breaks, a sign-up sheet to post or print, an invitation text with the open times to send families, a list of who has not booked yet, and your own schedule as a printout, calendar file or spreadsheet.
Who it is for
Classroom teachers, specialists and counselors who hold family conferences, and the office staff who help them schedule.
Format
Browser tool on a phone, tablet or computer. Prints the sign-up sheet and your schedule; downloads the invitation (.txt), a calendar file (.ics) and a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file to move the plan between devices.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Development and giving kit ($39) and the Advancement Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat. This planner does not take online bookings: families reply by your usual channel and you enter the booking.
Where it lives
The Communications space in Caveat Advancement.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Load the worked example to see a finished plan, or start blank.
  2. On step 1, add each conference day with its start and end time, the slot length, the gap between slots and any breaks. Paste your family list.
  3. On step 3, copy the invitation. It lists only the open times.
  4. As families reply, pick them in the slot on step 2. The planner warns you before it books a family twice.
  5. Print the sign-up sheet with names hidden for the hallway, and your own schedule or calendar file for the day.

Open the planner

How the schedule is worked out

The slot rule, and what the planner does not do.

The slot rule

Each day starts at your start time. A slot fits when it ends by the time you must be done. After each slot the planner adds your gap, so a 15-minute slot with a 5-minute gap starts a new conference every 20 minutes. If a slot would overlap a break, the next slot starts when the break ends. In the worked example, Thursday runs 3:30 to 7:00 with a dinner break at 5:15: the 5:10 slot would run into dinner, so the next one starts at 5:45.

The counts at the top compare slots with families. When you have more families than slots, the planner says how many short you are so you can add a day, shorten the gap or offer phone calls.

What stays with you

The page has no server and no booking link. Nothing you type, including family names and notes, leaves this browser unless you print it, copy it or save a file. That keeps family information off another company's system, and it means bookings are recorded by you, not by families.

Gaps between conferences give you time to write a note and greet the next family; many schools use 5 to 10 minutes. Many families need an interpreter or a phone option; the note on each booking is the place to record that.

Sources

  1. RFC 5545, Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar), IETF, 2009. The format of the calendar file.
  2. U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice (2015). Dear Colleague Letter: English Learner Students and Limited English Proficient Parents. Schools must communicate with parents who have limited English in a language they can understand, which is why each booking has a note for interpreters.

The worked example is made up: the class, families and times are illustrations. Dates and times use this device's clock and calendar. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.