E-mail Center

The E-mail center area allows users to send E-mail through SDS. You can send a short message and an optional attachment to students or parents of students in your classes.

ACCESS
Click on “Entry Options” button on the left and click on “E-Mail Center”.



TOOLBAR


PARENT OR STUDENT
Select this recipient type. The screen will then access the E-Mail field in your demographics table to select recipients.

STAFF MEMBER
Select this recipient type. The screen will then display a list of other staff members and their email addresses to allow you send messages to them through SDS.

Creating an E-mail

1. Parent or Student
Click this button to get started.


2. Select Marking Period
Click the dot for the desired marking period. This filters the list of classes to include only those classes you teach in this marking period.


3. Select Classes
Place a check mark next to the class(es) that will receive the e-mail. The default is all classes checked.



Click the button under the 3b “Apply Selections” to update the student list for just the classes you have selected.

4. Student Selection Option

•     All Students

o  Recipients will include all students in the selected class(es).

o  Use this to send an e-mail to all students regarding an upcoming test or project, for example.

•     Assignment

o  Select from the following to restrict the list of email recipients by:

§ Assignment Type (i.e. quiz, test, homework, project, etc.)

§ Assignment Date or Due Date: Date Range

§ Student Grade Average (the overall grade the student is receiving in class for a type of assignment)

•     Class Average

o  Recipients will include all students in the selected class(es) whose grade falls within the selected grade range

o  You may select which type of grade book is examined such as a term (i.e. quarter) or a final (i.e. semester) grade book when checking the overall letter grade

              


5. Possible Email Recipients
This drop box allows you to select all of your students or students from the classes you selected in the marking period step. Highlight individual students in the left box and move them to the right box by clicking the “>” button. Click on the “>>” button to select all of the students from the left box. Use the “<” to remove a highlighted student from the right box or “<<” to remove all students from the recipient list.

6. EMAIL BODY

•     PRE-SET SUBJECT

o  Select a stock subject from the dropdown.

•     SUBJECT

o  Type a brief description of subject matter for the message to follow.

•     PRE-SET MESSAGE

o  Select a stock message from the dropdown.

•     MESSAGE

o  Type in the message you want to send.

•     ATTACHMENT

o  This allows you to attach a document or report to your message. Use the browse button to locate your attachment on your computer.

7. SEND EMAIL
This button sends the message you compose. It is the last button you will click.

•     REFRESH

o  This button allows you to check for new messages. Messages will automatically load after a determined time period.

•     DELETE

o  This button is used to delete messages you do not want to keep. Place a check mark in the box in front of the message(s) you want to remove from your “inbox”, and then click this button to remove the selected messages.

•     MARK AS READ

o  This button is used to indicate that you have opened a message. Put a check mark in the box in front of the message(s) you want to mark as having been read, and then click this button to mark the messages. The result is that the font will “un-bold”. An unread message is in bold font.

•     SENT E-MAILS/MESSAGES

o  This option allows you to see lists of e-mails or messages you have sent to others. E-mails go out of the building. Messages stay within the building and go to other SDS users only.

STAFF MEMBER

1. Staff Member
Click this button to get started.


2. Select Staff Group

•     Click the New button.

•     Select the recipient(s) of your message.

•     If more than one person is to receive your message, click the button for Multiple Recipients. To select multiple recipients, use the “To:” drop box to select a specific group of users.

•     The group “All Teachers” lists all users in SDS.

•     Other groups may include fewer users. Other groups may include “Elementary Teachers” or “Administrators”.

•     Once the group of people has been selected, you may select all users in that group or just individual users in that group. Names must be highlighted to be selected.

•     Click on the recipient(s) to highlight the name, then click the “>” to push the name to the “Send Message To:’ box on the right. Repeat for all desired recipients. Click the “>>” to push all recipients from the left to the right box.

•     If you want to remove a recipient, click on that recipient’s name. Click the “<” to push the name to the left box. Use the “<<” to remove all names from the “Send Message To:” box.

•     In the subject box, type the subject of your message.

•     In the message box, type the message you are sending. There is no spell check or grammar check in this system.

Other Uses for Message Center
The message center area can be used for other purposes as well.

Rather than printing a report for another user in SDS, you can often print preview a report and “send” it to yourself. Once you receive a copy of the report in your Message Center, you can forward it to other recipients. This saves on paper and helps prevent losing documents that could have sensitive material on it (i.e. ID numbers). Many school offices print preview the daily attendance form and then send it to the rest of the staff through SDS.