School Forms

Types of school forms

When you select to create a form, you start with a template. This determines which blocks of fields your form will include.

For example:

Acknowledgement or permission - Start with this type of form when you need students to confirm that they read the student handbook, need parents to approve an upcoming field trip, etc. This also enables you use the Form field element to create customized questions or other types of data entry.
Emergency contacts - Start with this type of form when you need to know who to contact and how to reach them. This also enables you use the Form field element to create customized questions or other types of data entry.
Profile updates - Start with this type of form when you need general information about a person, such as addresses, phone numbers, or preferred names (nicknames). This also enables you use the Form field element to create customized questions or other types of data entry.
Blank - For a general form, start with this. This enables you use the Form field element to create customized questions or other types of data entry.
Medical - Use this type of form for information directly related to a student's health care. This may include allergies, medications, conditions (like diabetes or anxiety), immunizations, physicians, preferred hospital, and insurance.

Warning: Only use the medical school form to collect student medical data. Please review the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) for details about how to handle medical information and patient privacy.

Since medical information must remain HIPAA compliant, only users with the school nurse role can create or edit medical forms. For details, refer to Medical forms.

Tip: Nurses might also want to create forms that aren't specific to "medical." For example, you might want parents to acknowledge that they received and read your school's health care policies.

Tip: Blackbaud's solutions include more forms which are called names other than "school forms." For information about those forms, see the "Other types of forms for schools" section of this help topic.

Add a school form

To create a school form, select + Add Form.
You'll determine who can complete the form, when they will complete it, and who will receive notifications. For details, refer to Basic Settings for a School Form.
Select Save & edit. You're ready to edit the form.
Select + Add Section to group related items together. Enter a name for each section.
Add blocks or elements to each section. Then edit the blocks or elements.
Preview the form to ensure it appears as you expect. The form will be published based on the settings you previously set up.

Copy a school form

To create a form that is similar to an existing form, select Copy on the existing form row. Enter the Form settings for the copy and then select Save. By default, copies are inactive. The copy contains the same elements and blocks as the original, but you can make changes. The copy also includes the same due date, notification, confirmation, and admin notification settings.

Delete a school form

If no recipients have used a form, you can delete it--even if it is active and published. To do so, select X.

School form settings

You configure settings when you initially create the form. To edit settings for an existing form, select Settings on the form row. For details, refer to Basic Settings for a School Form.

Manage sections

Tip: If a lock icon appears on the section, you can't delete the section.

To group related items together, select + Add section and enter a name. For example, you may want a section for "profile information" and a different section for "activities."

To rename a section, select Section settings, enter your changes, and select Save.

Confirmation section - Enter the text that should appear on the user's screen after the user submits the form. This can differ from the text in the confirmation notification that is sent by email.
Payment section - To collect payment (such as for a field trip), edit the payment block in this section. To change the amount due, edit the Block Settings. This section is only visible to parent recipients when a payment gateway is selected and the application fee is greater than $0. By default, the fee is $0 and this section is not visible.

Tip: Don't see the payment section? Edit the Form settings to indicate that the form includes a fee.
- If the fee is waived, when the recipient completes the form payment fields are hidden and the form indicates that the fee has been waived.
- If the form is sent to multiple recipients in a family and one recipient pays the fee, payment fields are hidden from any later recipients and the form indicates that the fee has been paid.

Manage elements

To add an Element to a section, select the item you want to add and drag it to the desired location. Then edit the item.

Header - This element is available on all types of forms. It enables you to label areas of the form with general titles.
Text - This element is available on all types of forms. It enables you to enter instructions, explanations, and other textual content.
Image - This element is available on all types of forms. It enables you to enter a photo or illustration.
Spacer - This element is available on all types of forms. Use this to create a gap in the content, so the reader's eyes don't get overwhelmed.
Horizontal line - This element is available on all types of forms. Use this to visually divide content within a section.
Form field - This element is only available on blank forms. Use this to create questions or gather custom data specific to the form. When you add a form field, you enter a label (Display as) for the recipient to see. Then for Form control, select what type the data the recipient will enter.
- Checkbox - Enter options which the recipient will choose from. The recipient can only select one option. To enable the recipient to select "other" and then enter a short description, select "Yes" for Allow other.
- Checkbox list - Enter options which the recipient will choose from. The recipient can select multiple options. To enable the recipient to select "other" and then enter a short description, select "Yes" for Allow other.
- Dropdown - Enter options which the recipient will choose from. The recipient will only select one option from the menu. To enable the recipient to select "other" and then enter a short description, select "Yes" for Allow other.
- Text - The recipient enters up to 100 characters. For example, you may want to know the title of a favorite book.
- Text paragraph - The recipient can enter more than 100 characters. For example, you may want to know a detailed description of a time when the recipient overcame adversity.
- Yes/No - The recipient uses a toggle to respond "yes" or "no.

Manage blocks

To add a block to a section, select the item you want to add and drag it to the desired location. For each field in a block, determine how the field should display and whether it should be required. If you don't want the field to be visible to users, select Hide.

You can make additional changes to some blocks. Select Block settings to rename a block or enable users to enter multiple items. For example, you may want to enable users to enter multiple children. Enter how many versions of the block to show by default. Then select Yes for Allow add another. After a parent adds the first child, he'll click + Add Another to enter more.

Non-medical blocks include:

User regarding - This block is available on acknowledgement/permission, emergency contact, profile update, and blank forms.
User address - This block is available on acknowledgement/permission, emergency contact, profile update, and forms.
User signature - This block is available on acknowledgement/permission, emergency contact, profile update, and blank forms.
Parent signature - This block is available on acknowledgement/permission, emergency contact, profile update, and blank forms.
User emergency phone contact - This block is available on emergency contact forms.
User emergency email contact - This block is available on emergency contact forms.
User profile update - This block is available on profile update forms.
User children - This block is available on profile update forms.
User sibling - This block is available on profile update forms.
User grandparent - This block is available on profile update forms.
Household profile update - This block is available on profile update forms.
Custom fields - If your school previously created Custom fields, this block is available on blank forms.

Medical blocks:

Most fields that parents can edit on the student's medical record can be included on a medical school form. For details, refer to Medical forms.

Editing Locked Forms

When attempting to edit a locked form, a blue banner now appears at the top indicating that the form is in use and locked for editing. However, admissions managers can now select Edit Form on the left side which will open a warning screen that needs to be confirmed before the form can be edited. Keep in mind that only text-based fields can be edited (text blocks, field names etc).

Edits made after the form has been locked are also added to an audit log, which will keep track of changes made including the date of the change, the user who made the edits, which fields were changed and the previous and new values. The logs are accessible from View History under Edit Form.

Review forms associated with students on your roster

Faculty can use a roster report to review which students in a section are associated with school forms and whether the forms are completed.

Note: If the faculty member does not have access to a form, data on the submitted forms is hidden.

To run a roster report, from Faculty select Classes.
Choose a section.
Select Roster.
Select Run roster/student reports.
Choose a report.

Note: "Medical" school forms are excluded from the roster report for security and privacy purposes.

Enable other faculty to view & print submitted school forms

Note: For security and privacy reasons, you can't grant access to "medical" school forms. Only the school nurse can view and print responses for submitted "medical" school forms.

From a capability, select Content, and then select School forms. The forms you have security rights to appear. .
Select Form settings. For information about settings, refer to Basic settings for school forms
On General, select Yes for Is this form student centric?.
Then select the faculty who should have Access to view and print the responses.

Note: In addition to the default roles, any roles that are clones of the defaults appear s options.

To view or print the submitted forms, the faculty member can Run roster/Student reports to view which students in a section are associated with non-medical school forms and whether the forms are completed.

View, print, or export submitted forms

To view a responses for a submitted, non-medical form, select the down arrow next to your name at the top of any school capability. and then select Files & forms. Select a school form to open, complete, print, or export.

Note: If you don't have rights to a form and aren't a platform manager, the form doesn't appear in Files & forms. Platform managers who don't have access to a specific form can still view its name, type, due date, and status.

Medical functionality and data is protected by additional security and encryption. For example, when you impersonate another user, the student data on submitted “medical” school forms is hidden.

Print submitted school forms in bulk

To print fewer than 100 forms, select Print all.

When more than 100 forms have been submitted, the forms are grouped into batches of 100. First, select how you want the forms sorted. Then select which batch you want to print.

If you sort by date, the 1-100 range includes the forms which were submitted first. If you sort this way and you print the same batch on different days, you'll print the same forms each day.
If you sort by the name of user whom the form is regarding, the 1-100 range includes forms submitted in regards to users whose last names start with the letter A. If you sort this way and you print the same batch on different days, you might print different forms on each day. (For example, a form for John Adams might have been submitted in time for the second printing day, but not the first.)

Note: To print school forms in bulk, use the School Forms page, not Reports. Admissions managers can also print all started school forms as long as they have permission to print school forms.

Other types of forms for schools

Specific roles and capabilities may include other types of forms.