Teaching School: constraints for a school timetable

What you can do today and what you cannot yet

You can:

• Sign up and sign in as a school with "Continue with Google" too (when signing up, enter the school's name first). A Google account that already belongs to a private teacher does not turn into a school: use it on the regular sign-in screen, or use a different Google account for the school.
• Set up a school: its name, school days, periods a day, period length and breaks.
• Add the teachers, one by one or from a file.
• Define classes and subjects: how many periods a week each subject has in each class, and who teaches it.
• Ask each teacher for their constraints (for example "I cannot on Tuesday"), through a link in an email, with no password.
• Go over the constraints and approve, fix or reject each one.
• Build a timetable, move and lock lessons, send the proposal to the teachers, take their comments into the next build and publish.
• Handle absences: a teacher reports that they will be away, the system proposes substitutes, you confirm, and the substitute answers from a link in an email.
• Get a report of the substitution hours every month, by email and in the app.
• Pay for the school by card or by bank transfer, with a tax invoice.

You cannot yet:

• Import or export in the formats of the Ministry of Education systems. The Excel export is Teaching's own format.
• Receive replies to the emails. There is no reply address, and every answer is given through the link.
• Build a timetable for a school too large for the system to compute: the build is refused with an explanation. A large school (above 400 lessons a week) is built, but in the background (see "The timetable").

Signing up a school

1. Open the teacher app (app.teaching.co.il) and in the sign-in screen choose the "Sign up" tab.
2. Under "Who is signing up?" choose "A school - building the timetable". The "School name" field appears.
3. Type the school name, an email and a password (at least 10 characters) and tap "Create account".

Someone who signs up as a private teacher keeps getting the regular teacher app. The kind of account is set once at sign-up, and a school does not see the lessons and collection screens (and the other way round).

The first wizard (3 steps)

1. "Your school": the school name and the school year (optional). Tap "Next".
2. "The school week": tick the school days, fill in "Periods a day" and "Period length (minutes)", and if needed add breaks with "Add a break" (after which period, and for how many minutes). A break is possible only after a period that is not the last. Tap "Next".
3. "What happens next": a summary of the next steps. Tap "Finish and start".

You can change all of this later in "More".

Teachers

The "Teachers" screen has a table of all the teachers. "Add a teacher" opens an empty row to fill in (name, email, subjects, grades, maximum periods a day and role). "Edit" changes a row in place.

• A teacher without an email address is saved, but no request can be sent to them. The screen warns about this.
• The same address cannot appear on two active teachers of the school.
• The "Viewer" role is for someone who only looks: they get no requests and cannot give constraints.
• "Archive" takes a teacher off the list and stops the links already sent to them. Constraints already given stay. "Show N archived" and "Restore" bring them back.

Importing from a file

"Import from a file" takes a CSV file, or an Excel sheet saved as CSV, in UTF-8 or Windows-1255 (Hebrew Excel). Up to one megabyte and 1,000 rows.

• A header row is required. The known columns, in Hebrew or English: name, email, phone, subjects, grades, max periods a day. A column that was not recognised is shown and not imported.
• Before the import you see every row and what is wrong with it: a missing name, an invalid address, a duplicate address in the file, an address already in the school, and more. A row with an error is not imported, and the valid rows are.
• The "Import N teachers" button imports only the valid rows that were shown.

Classes and subjects

The "Classes and subjects" screen has a table: a row for each class and a column for each subject.

• Add a class at the top: "Class name", "Grade" and "Add the class". When "Start from the grade template" is ticked, the class is created with Hebrew, mathematics, English, science, history and physical education.
• In each cell: periods a week (0 or empty removes the subject from the class) and who teaches. "System chooses" leaves the choice to the system. Only active teachers with the teacher role appear in the list.
• Each class can have a homeroom teacher.
• "Add a column" adds a new subject to the table. "Rename" and "Delete" are in the class row, and deleting also deletes the class's subjects and the constraints written about it.
• Every change is saved at once; there is no save button.
• "Import hours from Excel" loads hours for classes from an Excel or CSV file with a row for each class and subject. The columns are: class, subject, hours, and optionally teacher, min block and max block. A row that already exists in the class replaces its hours, and a subject the file does not mention stays as it is. Before the import you see every row and its problem (for example a class that does not exist, a teacher who was not found or a duplicate row), and only the valid rows are imported.
• "Groupings and levels" (on this screen, once there are classes) define a subject taught at the same time to several classes in several levels, for example English at levels 3, 4 and 5 across the grade. With "Add a grouping" you fill in a name, a subject, periods a week, the minimum and maximum consecutive periods, the classes that take part and the levels (a name and a teacher for each level). All the levels meet in the same periods, each with its own teacher. A grouping must hold classes of the same grade, and a teacher may not teach two levels of the same grouping. If that is not so, the build says what is wrong. A subject taught in a grouping is not updated by the hours import.

Asking the teachers for constraints

On the "Teachers" screen tick the teachers and tap "Send constraint request (N)". A window "Constraint request - recipients and language" opens: each email goes out in the language of the person who gets it (the default), and you can change the language for this send only, for everyone ("One language for everyone") or for one teacher (Hebrew, English, Russian, Arabic or "Hebrew and English together"). Then tap "Send (N)".

• Requests can be sent only after you confirm the school's own email address (the confirmation message arrives when you sign up). If it is not confirmed yet, the screen says so and offers to send the confirmation message again.
• The teacher gets an email with a link only. The email cannot be replied to.
• The link is personal and works once. It is valid for 30 days.
• Up to 3 requests a day per teacher. Anyone the request was not sent to appears in the list with the reason (no address, archived, viewer, or the limit on requests).
• On the "Constraints" screen open "Requests sent to teachers" to see, for each teacher, whether the request was sent, whether the link was opened and whether it was answered. "More" also has a list of all the messages the system sent.

What the teacher sees

The teacher taps the link and lands on a page called "The request from your school". The page does not open by itself: you tap "Open the form". In the form:

• "In your own words": free text, for example "I cannot on Tuesdays, and I would rather finish by period 6".
• "Days I am not available" and "Most periods a day" - both optional.
• "Send". The teacher can come back and add more, and everything given is shown with its state: waiting for approval, approved or not accepted.

The teacher has no password. A link that was already used or has expired shows "This link no longer works", and from there they can ask for a new link to their own address ("Send me a link"). That link is valid for 15 minutes and works once. After the link is opened, the sign-in stays open for 12 hours and is limited to this page: the teacher cannot see anything else in the school.

Constraints and approval

The "Constraints" screen has three tabs: "School", "Teachers" and "Classes". You can also write a constraint yourself in the "A new constraint" form - freely, the way you would say it.

• For each constraint "What was written" and "What the system understood" are shown side by side, with the confidence. When needed, the part of the text the constraint was taken from is shown too.
• The system reads the text and suggests what it means. The suggestion is not binding: no constraint takes effect until someone at the school has approved it.
• A constraint the system is not sure about, or did not understand, is marked "Needs a look". A constraint that was not understood cannot be approved as it is: tap "Fix", define it in the fields, and "Save and approve".
• "Approve" approves what the system understood. "Reject" rejects it. An approved constraint can be undone with "Withdraw approval".
• If you shorten the school day or remove a school day in "More", every constraint that mentions a day or a period the school no longer has goes back to "Needs a look" with an explanation of what changed, even if it was approved before. It has to be fixed or rejected - it cannot be approved as it stands.
• The filter at the top of the list: "Waiting", "Approved", "Rejected" or "All".
• If a very large number of texts arrives at once, some of them are saved without analysis. You can define them with "Fix".

The timetable

The "Timetable" screen builds the timetable from the teachers, classes, subjects and approved constraints.

• "Build a timetable" creates a version. Every build is a new version, and the board can highlight what changed against another version.
• "Longest solve time" sets how long the system searches. A choice in seconds (up to 50) is computed on the page and you can stay on it. A choice in minutes, and any school with more than 400 lessons a week (a grouping counts once), is computed in the background: the "Solving in the background" panel shows progress, you can close the page and come back, and "Cancel the solve" stops it (no new timetable is saved). When the solve ends an email with a link arrives: "The timetable is ready", or a message that no timetable was found, that time ran out or that the solve did not finish.
• After a background solve that ended with a timetable, another background solve can be started only an hour later (the message says in how many minutes). A solve that failed, was cancelled or found no timetable does not count, and you can start again at once.
• The board can be viewed "By class" or "By teacher". You can drag a lesson to another place, "Lock" a lesson so that a new build will not move it, and "Unlock" it later. "Recompute" builds again and keeps the locked lessons and, as far as possible, everything else.
• A table shows which of your wishes were met and which were not, with the reason. When no timetable is possible, the system says which constraints are in conflict.
• "Send to teachers and publish": the proposal goes to all the teachers by email. Each teacher opens their link, sees the proposal and can write a comment. A comment becomes a constraint that waits for your approval, and only an approved constraint counts in the next build. "Publish" makes the version the school's timetable, and the previously published version moves to the archive.
• "Export to Excel" downloads a version, a sheet for each class and each teacher.

Absences and substitutions

Absences and substitutions need a published timetable. Without one the screens say so.

Reporting an absence. A teacher opens their link on a phone, and in the "Absence" tab chooses the date (or several days), ticks the lessons they will miss or "All day", and taps "Report". They can add a reason that only the person running the school sees. The same can be done by the person running the school in the "Substitutions" screen, in the "Report an absence" form, for example when a teacher calls in. A teacher can take back a report ("Take the report back"), and their lessons then no longer need a substitute.

What the system proposes. For every lesson of the absent teacher the system looks for a teacher who is free in that period according to the published timetable, who is not on a day or hour they are unavailable for, and who has not reached their maximum periods a day. Each candidate gets points: teaches the same subject (3), qualified for the grade (2), homeroom teacher of the class (2), at school with no gap (1), fewer substitution hours this month (1). The candidate with the most points is proposed. When two are equal the choice is always the same one. The screen shows the score and the reasons. When nobody is free, the lesson is marked "No substitute found".

What you do. On the "Substitutions" screen choose a day (the arrows, or "Today"). For each lesson:

• "Approve" sends the proposal to the substitute by email. The status becomes "Waiting for the substitute's answer".
• "Next candidate" proposes the one with the next score. "Choose a substitute" shows the list of candidates, with the reasons, and you pick.
• "Confirmed by phone" is for a substitute you spoke to: the hour is confirmed without waiting for the link.
• "Cancel the hour" cancels a substitution. The substitute is notified, and the hour is not counted in the report.
• A past day can be looked at but not changed.

"Approve the first proposal automatically" skips the first click: the first proposal of each lesson goes to the substitute at once. The substitute still has to answer, and a declined proposal comes back to you. The setting is in the "Substitutions" screen and in "More", under "Day to day".

What the substitute does. The substitute gets an email with two links: "Yes, I'll cover" and "No, I can't". The link opens a page that shows the lesson, and nothing is sent until they tap the button. Each link works once, and both stop working when the lesson starts. The time the first lesson starts is set in "More", "First period starts". A "no" moves to the next candidate automatically. After a "yes" the hour is confirmed and the absent teacher sees "Covered by" with the name in their own page. If the absence is taken back or the hour is cancelled before the lesson starts, a substitute who was asked or had said yes gets a cancellation email.

Everything that happens to a substitution is written in a log that cannot be changed or erased afterwards: who was proposed, who declined, who confirmed and how (link or phone).

The monthly report

On the 1st of every month, at 07:00 Israel time (you can change the time in "More", "Time the monthly report is built"), the system builds a report of the substitution hours of the month that ended and sends it to the school's email. It is built only for a month in which there was a published timetable.

• The "Substitution reports" screen lists the reports: month, version, hours and whether it was sent ("Sent", "Not sent yet" or "Sending failed, will retry").
• "Open" shows the summary by teacher (how many hours each substitute covered, and the total) and the list of the lessons in detail. "PDF" and "Excel" download the same report.
• The total is always equal to the number of rows in the detail. Before every sending the system checks this, and if the numbers do not match it does not send, and the problem is reported to the people who run the system.
• A report is final and is kept. A mistake, for example an hour that was confirmed by phone after the report was built, is corrected with "Build a corrected version" and a note on what was corrected. This creates a new version and sends it, and the earlier version stays as it was. The screen shows what was added and removed against the previous version.
• The same screen has the "Timetable archive": every version of the timetable, with its state, and a download of each as an Excel file.
• Once a month's report is saved, the month is locked. An absence, a cancellation or a substitution hour dated in that month shows the dialog "This month was already reported - add a correction note". You write what was corrected (3 to 1000 characters) and tap "Save and issue a corrected report": the change is saved and a corrected version of the report is built and sent together, so the report always matches the log. Without a correction note the change is not saved. A teacher or a substitute cannot correct a reported month.

Payment and read-only

• A school is free until the first timetable is published. From that day you have 14 days to pay for the year.
• The price is for a year, paid once, including VAT: up to 39 teachers 2,400 ILS, 40 to 89 teachers 3,000 ILS, 90 teachers or more 3,900 ILS. Everything is included: the solver, the emails, the substitutions and the monthly report. Only active teachers count: teachers with the viewer role do not.
• The tier is set by the highest number of active teachers during the period, not by the number on the day of the payment: for the first charge from the day the school registered, and for a renewal from the year that ended. A teacher counts on a day they were active, so archiving teachers in the days before payment does not lower the tier. A teacher who was added by mistake and archived the same day (for example a double import) is not counted. A change of tier in the middle of a year takes effect at the next renewal.
• The "Payment" screen (a link in "More") shows the state: "Free until you publish", "Waiting for payment" with the days left, "Paid" and the date it is paid through, or "Read-only". It also has the price list and the list of charges with a tax invoice for each.
• "Pay by card" opens the payment page. "Pay by bank transfer" issues a tax invoice with the amount; once we see the transfer and record it, it is marked as paid, and until then the school is not unlocked.
• If 14 days pass without payment, the school becomes read-only: the published timetable stays open to view, print and export, and nothing can be changed (no new absences, no substitutions, no new builds) until it is paid. No data is deleted. A banner at the top of every screen says so and leads to the "Payment" screen.
• A teacher who opens their link cannot send a constraint, a comment or an absence report while the school is read-only, and a substitute who taps "Yes" or "No" is not recorded. They see "The school is not active right now - please contact the school administrator". Viewing the timetable keeps working. A substitute's link is not used up by such a tap and works after payment, if the lesson has not started.
• If the "Payment" screen shows a test notice, no real money moves.
• This has nothing to do with the plans of a private tutor, which are described in the chapter on plans and billing.

Privacy and data

• The system holds no student data at all. It keeps teachers (name, email, phone, subjects and grades), classes and subjects, constraints (the original text is kept), timetables, absences (the reason a teacher writes is seen only by whoever runs the school), substitutions and reports.
• Each school sees only its own data, and the separation is enforced in the database itself. A teacher who received a link sees only their own page.
• Teachers sign in with a personal link in an email, with no password. The session stays open for 12 hours and is limited to their page.
• A constraint written in free text is read with the help of an AI service from Google. The text is sent there for processing and may be processed outside Israel. The reading is only a proposal, and no constraint enters the calculation without your approval.
• The substitution log and the monthly reports are kept and cannot be changed or deleted from within the system.
• Deleting the school account: in "More" tap "I want to delete the account" and confirm with the password (or with the account's email, if it was opened through Google). The account is locked at once and the teachers' links stop working. 30 days later all of the school's data is erased for good: the teachers, classes, timetables, absences, substitutions and reports. Invoices and payment records are kept, as the law requires, without identifying details, and there is no refund for a period that was paid.
• Where the data is stored and who else processes it is written in the privacy policy, linked at the bottom of every page of the site.

Common questions

Does the teacher need to install anything or sign up? No. The link that arrived by email is enough.

The teacher wrote something the system does not understand. What happens? The constraint is saved with the original text, marked "Needs a look", and you define it with "Fix" or reject it.

A teacher gave a constraint by mistake. Can it be deleted? You can reject it with "Reject". The original text is kept, but it does not take effect.

What about the data of another school? Each school sees only its own data, and a teacher who received a link sees only their own page.

Can I build the timetable now? Yes. Open the "Timetable" screen and tap "Build a timetable". It needs the teachers, classes, subjects and the approved constraints.

A teacher forgot to report an absence. What do I do? Report it for them in the "Substitutions" screen, in the "Report an absence" form, and the system proposes substitutes at once.

The substitute did not answer. What now? The lesson stays "Waiting for the substitute's answer". You can call them and tap "Confirmed by phone", or tap "Next candidate" to propose someone else. The links stop working when the lesson starts.

An hour was confirmed after the monthly report was sent. Is it missing? The report that was sent stays as it was. The month is locked: confirming the hour asks for a correction note and builds a corrected version that includes it.

What happens to the school's data if it is not paid? Nothing is deleted. The school is read-only, and the published timetable can still be viewed, printed and exported.

My school is large and the build does not finish on the page. What do I do? Choose a "Longest solve time" in minutes. The solve runs in the background, you can close the page, and an email arrives when it ends. If it says no timetable was found, relax one of the constraints or allow more time.

I started a background solve and I cannot start another. Why? After a background solve that ended with a timetable, another can be started only an hour later. The message says in how many minutes. A solve that failed, was cancelled or found no timetable does not count.

A teacher writes that they see "The school is not active right now". What is that? The school is read-only because it was not paid. To release it, pay on the "Payment" screen. There is no need to send the teachers new links.

Can I stop a teacher from being used without deleting them? Yes, "Archive". They leave the list and their links stop working, and the constraints they gave stay. You can restore them.