Configuring engagement options in District Settings

District administrators can define the exact list of activities that families, students, and staff choose from when they log a day of engagement. Each option controls what it counts as for attendance purposes, who can see it, and — for in-person options — which learning centers it applies to.

Where to find engagement options

1. Click District Settings in the left navigation bar.

2. Under the Attendance section, click Engagement options.

Only district administrators can see and edit this screen. It lists every option grouped the way you've organized them, showing what each one counts as, who it's visible to, and whether it's active.

A district doesn't need to set anything up before using this: a starter set of options (an asynchronous option, a synchronous option, an excused absence, and an unexcused absence, plus an in-person option for districts with learning centers) is already in place the first time you open this screen.

Adding an option

1. On the Engagement options screen, click Add option.

2. Enter a Name (for example, "Learning center visit"), an optional Description, and an optional Group label used to organize the table.

3. Under Counts as, choose whether the option represents Present, Excused absence, or Unexcused absence.

4. If the option counts as present, also choose how the student participates: Asynchronous (independent work, no live session), Synchronous (a live session with a teacher), or In person (at a learning center — this records an official in-person attendance day).

5. Read the consequence line that appears below these choices — it spells out in plain language what selecting the option will do (for example, "Counts as an excused absence. Removes the day from ADA and reports it to CALPADS.").

6. Under Visible to, choose which groups — parents, students, and/or staff — can select this option when logging a day. At least one group must be selected.

7. If you chose In person and your district has learning centers, choose whether the option is available at All learning centers or only specific ones.

8. Click Save.

Every option prompts whoever is logging it for a short note. Only options that count as present also ask for a duration — that's the only difference in what the logging form collects.

Editing an option

Click the pencil icon next to any option to open it for editing. You can update the name, description, group, visibility, and learning center scope at any time.

What an option counts as is locked once it's created. This keeps attendance, ADA, and CALPADS reporting consistent for every day already logged through that option. If you need an option to count as something different, deactivate the existing one and create a new option with the settings you want.

Deactivating and reactivating an option

Open an option and click Deactivate in the drawer footer to stop offering it to families, students, and staff going forward. Deactivated options are marked Inactive in the table but stay visible so you can review what was logged under them historically.

To bring a deactivated option back, open it and click Reactivate.

A small number of built-in options are always on and can't be deactivated — these are marked with an Always on badge.

Frequently asked questions

• Will changing an option's visibility affect logs that already exist? No — visibility only controls who can choose the option going forward. Existing logs are unaffected.

• Can I change what an option counts as after creating it? No. Facets like present/absent and synchronous/in-person are locked at creation because attendance and compliance reporting depend on them staying consistent. Deactivate the option and create a new one instead.

• What happens to the picker if no option is visible to a family or student? If none of your configured options are visible to a particular audience, that audience simply won't see an engagement picker at all.