A program's settings can be managed or altered by program Administrators from the web or mobile app. These settings control how admins, staff and student contacts interact with the program in brightwheel and can be modified at any time to best fit the program's needs!
This resource provides an overview of the available Check-in Kiosk, Learning, Parent Access, Staff attendance, and Payroll settings that are accessible on the web and on the app.
Access School Settings
On the Web | On the App |
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💡 After accessing the settings page, navigate to the appropriate section below for details on each setting.
Check-in Kiosk Settings
Administrators have the ability to set up their check-in settings in whatever way works best for the program. These settings are split into two distinct categories, Check-in Kiosk Settings and Attendance Settings.
Learn more about the options for check-in settings that are available in our Manage School Check-in Settings resource.
Learning Settings
Administrators can set up learning frameworks or state standards to be utilized when logging learning observations in the app.
Learn more about managing this setting from the web or app in our Setup Your Learning Standard or Framework resource.
Access Settings
These settings will influence how parents will interact with brightwheel in their account. It is beneficial to understand what these settings affect and how they can drive parent engagement!
Default Activities to Staff-Only
Default Activities to Staff-Only
Some administrators prefer the ability to approve the activities staff are logging prior to them being shared with student contacts, this can be especially helpful when first rolling out brightwheel. If toggling this setting ON, all new posts will be viewable by internal personnel only, until an administrator has approved them and all newly logged activities will default to 'staff only' as well.
When logging activities on the web, regardless of how this setting is configured, activities will not have the Staff Only option checked by default. We strongly recommend advising your staff how to use this option if logging activities from their account on the web and in general to ensure they're following the program's procedures.
Parents can Edit Student Info
Parents can Edit Student Info
Allowing contacts with parent-level access to maintain, add, or edit information on their student's profiles can be a great way to keep the information up to date. This includes all information in the student’s profile under Personal Information, Address, and Student Contacts.
Some schools prefer to know when records are changing and would prefer to keep this privilege available to school staff only. It's up to program administrators to determine if this privilege is toggled on or off.
ℹ️ Learn about toggling this feature on/off from the Web and App by viewing our Parent Permissions to Edit Student Profiles resource.
Parent Directory
Parent Directory
This setting can only be managed from the web and is toggled OFF by default. If desired, toggle this ON to allow parents to share and view contact information in a directory of all other parents of active students. Once enabled, parents will be able to view this directory of other brightwheel parents in the program in their account on the web and mobile app. Parents can also choose to opt out of sharing their information if desired
Parent can Add Activities
Parent can Add Activities
Student contacts that have been added as a Parent contact type may have the ability to add a photo of a student to the student’s feed using the mobile app. This allows contacts to share photos of activities, projects, milestones, and more! Once the photo is added, it will be viewable by school administrators, staff, and other student contacts.
Learn more about how parents can add, edit, and delete photos on their child's feed on the mobile app by viewing our Uploading Photos as a Parent resource
Payroll Settings
Payroll settings are only available to be modified by administrators on the web. These settings are primarily useful to administrators who are using brightwheel's staff check-in/out options to track payroll.
Pay Period
This setting is how timecards on the Time tracking page and timecards visible to staff on the mobile app will be grouped by default. If this setting is not turned on, timecards can be filtered using one of the existing options (Custom, Month, Week, All Time).
💡 If your program has multiple pay periods, choose the one that applies to most of your staff.
Manage this setting from the web by following the steps below.
Click the My School option on the purple sidebar to expand the menu
Select Settings
Jump over to the School Info tab
Scroll to the Payroll Settings section
Click Set pay period
Set the Pay period frequency using the available drop-down menu
If selecting Weekly, set the Pay period start day
If selecting Twice monthly - set the First pay period end day and Second pay period end day
If selecting Bi-weekly - set when your Next pay period start date is
If selecting Monthly - set the Pay period end day
When finished, click Save
Navigate back to this setting at anytime and click Edit to make changes
Staff Check in From Any Device
This setting determines whether staff can check in or out remotely. When enabled, staff can check in from any device logged into their staff account, including personal accounts. If disabled, remote check-in/out is not allowed, and staff must use a Check-in Kiosk or Quick Scan method if available.
Even if this setting is turned off, Admins and Managers will retain the ability to use Attendance mode for check-in/out.
To manage this setting, follow the steps below:
On the Web | On the App |
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Auto Check Out Staff
The Auto Check Out Staff setting allows administrators to choose to auto-checkout staff that have accidentally stayed checked in. If the setting is toggled ON then these open time cards will automatically be closed with a Time Out set to midnight. This setting will help to prevent errors and confusion during staff check-in, and makes it easier to spot timecards that need updating.
Overtime Rules
Programs can customize overtime rules to accommodate when their work week starts and select if they calculate daily, double, or weekly overtime. Overtime is automatically calculated for staff on the mobile app.
The Week Start Day setting allows administrators to choose what day the program's work week starts for payroll so overtime can be easily calculated using the Time Summary Report. The start day defaults to Sunday, meaning weekly overtime is calculated based on a Sunday - Saturday week. To select a new day, click the appropriate day of the week from the drop-down menu. | 
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Below are the different overtime types programs can customize in brightwheel:
Weekly Overtime | This is the amount of hours worked in a week that trigger overtime hours for staff. If your program calculates overtime based on total hours worked in a week, turn ON the Weekly Overtime setting. By default, working more than 40 hours per week will accrue overtime. To edit the total hours, click the pencil icon and type in the desired hours. Any hours worked in a week beyond these are counted as overtime.
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Daily Overtime | This is the amount of hours worked in a single day that triggers overtime hours for staff.
If your program calculates overtime based on total hours worked per day, turn ON the Daily Overtime setting.
By default, working more than 8 hours in a single day will accrue overtime. To edit the total hours, click the pencil icon and type in the desired hours. Any hours worked in a single day beyond these are counted as overtime.
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Daily Double Overtime | This is the amount of hours worked in a single day that triggers double overtime hours for staff. Double overtime hours will accrue for any hours worked per day beyond the chosen number.
If your program pays double overtime, click the pencil icon next to Double Overtime and enter the desired hours. 
By default double overtime is turned off and only can be enabled if single daily overtime is enabled. |
🚩 At this time, double overtime is not available for weekly calculations. Double overtime is available if your program calculates overtime based on the total hours worked per day.
Room Settings
Room Settings are available to be modified on the app as an administrator or staff. Every classroom is different and brightwheel knows that preferences vary by teacher. That's why we have empowered staff to set their Room Settings based on the preferences of those assigned to that room. Administrators will see all options available in the screenshot below and staff will see all besides the Student to Staff Ratio and Room Capacity options.
Learn more about the various options available to manage rooms at a program by viewing our Room Settings resource.