Handling Early-Dismissal Requests

An early-dismissal request is a one-off, same-day change: a parent needs a student released before the normal bell for an appointment, a family emergency, or an early travel start. Unlike a recurring exception, it fires once, on a specific date and time, and it needs to reach the front office and the lane before dismissal begins. This guide covers approving a parent-submitted request, logging one you take by phone, and getting it onto the dismissal board so staff release the right student at the right time.

Before you start

• You need admin or front-office access to your school's PickupRoster Admin Panel. The Front Office role can approve and log requests; only Admin can change the approval policy.
• The student must already be imported. If you can't find them, resolve the roster first — see Importing Student Rosters from Your SIS.
• Decide your school's approval rule: auto-approve parent requests, or require staff approval. You'll set this once in Settings → Dismissal → Early dismissal.
• Have the release detail ready: pickup time, who is collecting the student, and the reason.

1. Set your approval policy (one time)

1. Log in and open the Admin Panel.
2. In the sidebar under Settings, click Dismissal, then open the Early dismissal panel.
3. Choose an Approval mode:
   • Require staff approval — every parent request lands in a queue for review. Recommended for most schools.
   • Auto-approve — parent requests post straight to the board. Use only if your front office is comfortable with unreviewed same-day releases.
4. Set the Cutoff — the latest time before dismissal a parent may submit (e.g., 30 minutes before bell). Requests after the cutoff route to staff regardless of mode.
5. Click Save. You'll see "Early dismissal settings saved."

2. Review the request queue

1. From the sidebar, open Dismissal → Requests. The header reads Early-dismissal requests.
2. The Pending today stat counts requests awaiting a decision. Each row shows the student, requested pickup time, the submitting parent, and the reason.
3. Click a row to expand it. Confirm the pickup contact is authorized on the student's household — an unfamiliar name is your cue to call before approving.

3. Approve, decline, or edit

1. On the expanded request, click Approve. You'll see "Early dismissal approved." and the request moves to the board immediately.
2. To push back, click Decline and enter a short reason (e.g., "contact not on approved list"). The parent is notified by email and, if enabled, SMS via Resend.
3. Need to adjust the time or contact before approving? Click Edit, change the Pickup time or Pickup contact, then Approve. Your edits, not the original values, post to the board.

4. Log a request that came by phone

Most early dismissals still arrive as a phone call. Log them so the lane sees the same board everyone else does:

1. Open Dismissal → Requests and click Add request.
2. Student — search by name; the household's authorized contacts load automatically.
3. Pickup time — the time the parent will arrive. Requests inside the cutoff are flagged Late notice so staff know it's tight.
4. Pickup contact — pick an authorized contact, or add a new one with name and phone. New contacts are marked Unverified until an admin confirms them.
5. Reason — keep it brief: "orthodontist, 1:45." This shows to lane staff.
6. Click Save request. Because you logged it as staff, it's approved on save — you'll see "Early dismissal added and approved."

5. Confirm it reached the board

1. Open the Dashboard. The Early dismissals today stat now includes the student, and their card shows a Today: Early — 1:45 PM pill.
2. On the student's page, the request appears under Today's dismissal above the default plan, with the pickup contact and time.
3. At the lane, the Dismissal board lists early releases in a pinned Leaving early row, sorted by pickup time, so staff stage the student before the parent arrives.

Every approval, decline, edit, and phone-logged entry is written to the audit log ("Approved an early dismissal" / "Logged an early dismissal"), so you can reconstruct who released whom and when.

Troubleshooting

A parent's request never appeared in the queue. They likely submitted after the Cutoff — check the request's timestamp. Late-notice requests still arrive, but they're flagged; if it's missing entirely, confirm the parent has an active account (see Parent Onboarding: Sending Invite Links).

The pickup contact shows as Unverified. Someone was added on the fly. Open the household, confirm the contact is legitimate, and click Verify. Staff can still release to an unverified contact, but the flag prompts them to check ID.

I approved the wrong request. Reopen it from Dismissal → Requests, click Revert to pending, then decline or edit. The board updates immediately and the change is logged.

The student's default plan is still showing at the lane. The early-dismissal pill overrides the default only for today. If staff see the default (e.g., "Car line") instead of "Early," refresh the board — pinned early releases load at the top once the request is approved.

Auto-approve is releasing students I'd rather review. Switch Approval mode to Require staff approval in Settings → Dismissal → Early dismissal. Existing approved requests stay approved; only new ones route to the queue.