Are parents supposed to get low balance notifications in their mobile app and if not, why not?

[HankH2]

Shouldn't the mobile app get notifications for low lunch balance?

If there's a setting to make it work, where do I find it?

If it does not get notifications, why?

[SowmyaN]

Hey @HankH2, Thank you for reaching out for assistance with the PowerSchool Community!

Parents can receive notifications within the mobile app when their student's balance is getting low. I have provided the steps to enable this feature within the district below:

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Login into the admin portal and navigate to Start Page > Student Selection > General Demographics for the student in question and select the balance icon. You will see the balance alert along with the student balance.
2. On the administrative side navigate to Start Page > School Setup > Balance Alert Setup.
3. In the parent portal, if they don't show the lunch balance on the parent/student pages then during the district set up the alert checkbox has not been selected. If so, Please select the alert checkbox then the parent will receive the low balance alerts.
4. For more information, see how to setup Miscellaneous District Settings.
5. If you navigate to Start Page > District Setup > Miscellaneous you'll notice the following field is not toggled "Do not show the lunch balance on parent/student pages".

[DanM3]

I think the question was in reference to the PowerSchool app and not the parent portal. As far as I know there is only push notification for grades and attendance.  Unfortunately @HankH2 I don't know why it isn't part of the app. You might want to create a enhancement request with PowerSchool.

[JeffG9]

@DanM3 @HankH2 

In the latest Android version of the App (updated on 9/13), the lunch balance is displayed directly at the top of the Dashboard.

[DanM3]

Good to know. Is there a push notification if it drops below a certain amount?

[JeffG9]

@DanM3Push is still just Attendance and Grades, but there is an Email notification for Balance that can be set Daily, Weekly, every 2 weeks or monthly.

[EstherM2]

Hi @JeffG9 or @DanM3 -

Are either of you aware of a way to turn on balance notification emails for parents en mass?

Thank you!

[JyotishkaB]

Hi 

Currently, there is no feature available to enable us to send balance alert emails to parents in mass. 

You can share this idea as an Enhancement Request on  PowerSchool Ideas Portal so that the product team can take a look at this. This article should walk you through how to raise an Enhancement Request.

[EstherM2]

Thank you.

~Esther

[HankH2]

Are enhancement requests still submitted through PowerSource or is there a new section here on the PowerSchool Community site?

Thanks

[HankH2]

Thanks. I was talking about specifically push notifications in the app. 

The parent does appear to get email notifications about the lunch balance, at least.

As far as the balance icon for the student. I went to the demographics page and did not see any balance icon. I assume you're saying it should appear at the top near their name like the medical alert icon does?

[jamiem7 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your responses!

Feature requests for PowerSchool SIS can be submitted within PowerSource.  PowerSchool can also submit the request to the PowerSchool SIS Product Team on your behalf.  We have received requests to have the lunch balance notify parents within the PowerSchool Mobile app when the balance decreases to a certain amount.  Since we have previously received reports, I have placed emphasis on this feature request with the PowerSchool SIS Product Team.

If your district has a customization that provides the lunch balance within the student Demographics page, then you should be able to view the lunch balance within the Demographics page.  If you do not see the balance within the student Demographics page, you should be able to review the lunch balance within PowerLunch.

I have also provided a link that will walk through the fields that can be used to generate a report of all students with a certain amount lunch balance, such as all students with a balance under $10.

 https://help.powerschool.com/t5/PowerSchool-SIS-Knowledge-Base/Student-Search-By-Lunch-Balance/ta-p/...

[JeffG9]

@HankH2 

I meant the balance is displayed on the Dashboard of the App, not the admin side of PowerSchool.