We often receive the following question from district administrators, assistants, and secretaries looking to achieve 100% athletic compliance:

“Do you have any suggestions to drive parent and student action based on your experience with so many districts?”

Excellent question! We understand the dilemma. School districts and athletic departments need specific information to ensure athletic compliance with district policies. Even more important, this information may be used to ensure student safety throughout the day, on trips, and in extracurricular activities. The problem is: Parents are busy and might not realize just how easy it is to complete online forms.

3 Steps to Achieving 100% Athletic Compliance

We believe there are 3 steps to 100% form completion:

COMMUNICATION

Create a ‘Pre-Launch Checklist’ to ensure your Parents have the information and guidance they need to help your district achieve 100% athletic compliance before practices start.

Distribute or post an introduction to online forms via:

• Email
• School & Athletics website ‘Forms’ page
• All-Call / Robo-Call
• Group Text Message
• Parent Night or Orientation
  
  

Post step-by-step guidance on your:

• School & Athletics website ‘Forms’ page
  
  

Announce or post the registration link via:

• School & Athletics website ‘Home’ page
• School & Athletics website ‘Forms’ page
• Any location where online or paper forms were in the past
• Parent Night or Orientation
• Email to Parents
• Email to Staff
• Email to Students
• On your email signature
• On your automatic reply
  
  

ACCESS

Often times parents simply don’t have access to the right technology to complete forms and submit the proper paperwork. Make sure there are multiple options for parents to get help and to complete required athletic and participation forms.

• Ensure computer availability in a lab or library for parents who may not have computers or mobile devices at home.
• Devote a kiosk in your lobby to FinalForms.
• Hold a forms signing day or night in August.
• Send paper instructions with students that aren’t compliant after the first day.
• Instruct homeroom teachers, activity leaders, or coaches to call parents if student is not compliant after the first week.

ENFORCE

Put real consequences behind your requirement for form completion.

Here are some policies we’ve heard about:

• Deny access to school issued technology
• Deny access to locker
• Deny access to parking passes
• Deny access to schedules
• Deny extracurricular club, activity, sport participation.
• Deny recess (seems harsh, but if you don’t have Emergency Medical Information for a Student, recess can be a huge liability).
• Deny grade reports

The Final Word

In summary, achieving 100% form compliance can be a challenge… but, it’s not impossible. Trust us, we help hundreds of schools get to 100% every year and in every season. The FinalForms team, product, and service are designed to help you every step of the way!

Connect with one of our forms experts today!