Cases

How to open, organize, work, and close a structured student intervention — with a full attendance-support example.

What a case is

A case is the central record for an intervention that needs coordinated follow-through. It names the concern, identifies the responsible staff member, records the plan, and brings related services and referrals together in one place.

Record	Question it answers	Example
Case	What concern are we coordinating, and what is the plan?	Attendance-support intervention
Goal	What measurable change are we trying to achieve?	Reduce unexcused absences from 8 to 2 per month
Service log	What support did we provide?	Family call, student check-in, staff consultation
Referral	How was support requested or connected?	Inbound school referral or outbound agency referral

Think of the case as the folder, not the outcome

The case holds the workstream. Use a goal when you need a measurable target, service logs for each contact or intervention, and referrals when support is requested from or sent to another provider.

When to open a case

Open a case when a concern needs an assigned owner, a documented plan, and work over time. Good candidates include recurring attendance problems, coordinated academic support, sustained behavior intervention, family services, mental-health support, special-education coordination, or basic-needs support.

Open a case when…	Use something else when…
The concern will require multiple contacts, services, referrals, or reviews.	A single interaction can be captured completely in one service log.
A staff member needs clear ownership and the team needs a shared plan.	You only need to record a measurable student target; create a goal.
The intervention should have a formal start, status, and closure record.	You only need to route a request to another service; create a referral.

Avoid duplicate cases for the same work

Check the student's existing active cases before opening another one. If the same concern and plan are already being managed, update that case and link new services to it.

Finding cases

Cases always live under a student. Open the student, then choose Cases in the student sidebar.

Marcus Patel's student navigation with Cases visible — From a student's record, choose **Cases** in the left navigation.

The Cases list

The Cases page summarizes the student's case history and displays one card per case.

Tile	What it shows
Active Cases	Cases with Open, In Progress, or On Hold status.
Closed Cases	Cases with Closed or Transferred status.
Total Contacts	Stored contact count across the student's cases.
Avg. Duration	Average number of days from opening to closure—or through today for active cases.

Each card shows the case number, category, status, priority, presenting concern, assigned staff member, duration, service counts, and referral count. Use View Case for the complete record, Log Service to record work against the case, or Edit to update it.

Cases page showing an active attendance-support case — The case list makes current workload, ownership, duration, service activity, and referral activity visible at a glance.

Opening a case

Click Open Case. The form is grouped into case details, dates, documentation, indicators, and closure fields. Fields marked * are required.

1. Case Details

Field	What to enter
Case Number optional	Your district's human-readable tracking number. It must be unique if entered.
Category *	The primary reason for the case. Select the best reporting category rather than every issue mentioned in the notes.
Assigned To *	The staff member responsible for coordinating the case. Defaults to you.
Status *	Usually Open for a new case. See Case status.
Priority *	Low, Medium, High, or Urgent. Use this to triage workload; it does not change case behavior.
Linked Inbound Referral optional	If a referral initiated the case, select it here. Only referrals belonging to this student are offered.

2. Dates and documentation

Field	What to enter
Opened *	The date formal case coordination began. Defaults to today.
Closed optional	Leave blank while active. Enter the closure or transfer date when ending the case.
First / Last Referral optional	The span of referral activity associated with this case. The last date cannot be before the first.
Presenting Concerns optional	A concise, factual description of the concern, pattern, impact, and known context. Encrypted at rest.
Case Plan optional	The actions, owners, cadence, and review point for the intervention. Encrypted at rest.

3. Indicators and referral flags

Population Indicators identify Foster Care, Homeless / McKinney-Vento, Special Education, or Section 504 status. SocialNote pre-fills these from the student record when the case is created; verify rather than assuming.

Case Flags identify whether the case is reportable or crisis-related and whether specific outbound referrals have been made. Check a referral flag only after that referral has actually occurred.

Open Case form filled with case number, attendance category, assignee, open status, and high priority — Start with the category, owner, workflow status, priority, and optional link to the inbound referral that started the work.

Open Case form showing dates and attendance-support documentation — Document the concern and plan so another authorized colleague could understand what is happening and what comes next.

Open Case form showing population indicators, case flags, and closure fields — Confirm indicators and flags. Leave the closure fields blank until the case is Closed or Transferred.

Worked example: attendance support

Marcus has developed a recurring absence pattern that is affecting coursework and needs coordinated family, student, and school follow-through. Here is the case, field by field.

Case Number: SPS-ATT-2026-014
Category: Attendance Support
Assigned To: Amanda Davis
Status: Open
Priority: High
Linked Inbound Referral: No linked referral
Opened: 2026-03-02
First Referral / Last Referral: 2026-02-27 / 2026-02-27
Presenting Concerns: Marcus has accumulated eight unexcused absences in the past month, with a pattern on Mondays and Fridays. Transportation barriers and missed coursework are affecting his progress.
Case Plan: 1. Review attendance weekly with Marcus. 2. Contact the family to identify barriers and confirm the morning routine. 3. Coordinate transportation support when needed. 4. Record each contact or intervention as a service log. 5. Review monthly attendance data and adjust supports. 6. Reassess the case by May 29, 2026.
Population Indicators: None selected
Case Flags: Reportable

Pair this case with a measurable goal

The case plan describes the coordinated work. A separate attendance goal—such as reducing unexcused absences from eight to two or fewer per month—provides the measurable outcome. Link each family call, student check-in, and staff consultation to this case through its service log.

Case status

Status	Counts as	When to use it
Open	Active	The case has been accepted and initial coordination is underway.
In Progress	Active	The plan is actively being delivered and reviewed.
On Hold	Active	Work is temporarily paused, but the case still needs follow-up.
Closed	Closed	The case has ended; record a closed date, reason, and useful summary.
Transferred	Closed	Responsibility moved elsewhere; document where and why in the closure summary.

A common path is Open → In Progress → Closed. On Hold and Transferred are available when the situation calls for them; every case does not need to pass through every status.

Working a case

The case page is the working overview. It shows ownership, dates, plan, population indicators, service totals, referral flags, recent services, and—after closure—the closing record.

Open attendance-support case showing status, duration, owner, concerns, and plan — The case detail page keeps the current plan and operational summary together.

Record work as service logs

Open the case and click Log Service.
Record what happened—the service, date, duration, provider, and appropriate notes.
Save. Because you started from the case, the service form is opened with this case selected.

The case page separates service totals by Individual, Group, Family, Staff Consult, Home Visit, and Agency activity. Recent linked services appear in a table below the breakdown.

Keep referrals accurate

The linked inbound referral explains how the case began. Outbound referral flags summarize where the team has connected the student next: child protection, mental-health agency, community services, juvenile justice, or health services. Edit the case when one of these referrals occurs.

Case detail showing service breakdown, referral flags, and recent services — Service and referral sections show the activity connected to the case. Zeroes are useful too—they reveal what has not yet been recorded.

Update the case plan when the strategy changes

Service logs preserve individual contacts. The case plan should remain the current shared plan. When the team changes course, edit the plan rather than burying the new direction in one service note.

Closing or transferring a case

Close a case once active coordination has ended. From the case page, click Edit Case, change Status to Closed or Transferred, and complete the closure fields.

Closure field	How to use it
Closed	The date work ended. It cannot be earlier than the opened date.
Closure Reason	Required for Closed or Transferred cases: Goals Achieved, Services Completed, Student Transferred, Family Moved, Client Request, Administrative, or Other.
Closure Summary	State the result, remaining needs, handoff, and next monitoring step. Encrypted at rest.

Status: Closed
Closed: 2026-05-29
Closure Reason: Goals Achieved
Closure Summary: Marcus reduced unexcused absences from eight per month to one or fewer for two consecutive months. The family has a stable transportation plan, and the school attendance team will continue routine monitoring.

Edit Case form with a completed closure reason and summary — Complete a closure reason and useful summary before saving. The reason is required when the status is Closed or Transferred.

Closed attendance-support case showing the closed status and duration — After saving, the case header and summary change to Closed and the final duration replaces Days Open.

Closed case showing the closure date, reason, duration, and summary — The permanent Case Closure card preserves the outcome, duration, and next monitoring step.

Closing is not deleting

Close or transfer completed work so it remains part of the student's history. Delete only a case created in error; deletion removes it from ordinary use rather than documenting how the work ended.

More examples

Academic Support

Presenting concern	Course failures have continued across two grading periods despite classroom supports.
Plan	Weekly student check-in, teacher consultation every two weeks, tutoring connection, and monthly grade review.
Likely linked goal	Increase passing courses from 3 of 6 to 6 of 6 by semester end.

Mental Health

Presenting concern	Recurring anxiety symptoms are interfering with classroom attendance and assignment completion.
Plan	Scheduled check-ins, coping-plan review, caregiver contact, teacher coordination, and outside-provider referral if consented.
Likely flags	Mental Health Referral Made only after the referral is actually submitted.

Family Services

Presenting concern	A change in housing and transportation is disrupting the student's school routine.
Plan	Family needs assessment, transportation coordination, community-resource connection, and weekly follow-up until stabilized.
Likely flags	Community Referral Made after connection; verify Homeless / McKinney-Vento indicator with the student record.

Who can do what

Action	Who
View cases	Staff in the student's district who have access to the student's school.
Open a case	Same as above.
Edit or close a case	The case creator, the assigned staff member, or an administrator.
Delete a case	The case creator or an administrator.

If Edit Case is not available, the case may belong to another staff member. Ask the assigned staff member or an administrator to make the change or reassign the case.

Write for a durable student record

Presenting concerns, case plans, and closure summaries are encrypted in the database. Keep language factual, relevant, professional, and appropriate for a record that may be reviewed later.

Field reference

Field	Required	Notes
Case Number	Optional	Unique if entered; maximum 255 characters.
Category	Required	Academic, attendance, child protection, behavior, family, health, special education, mental health, homeless, or foster-care support.
Assigned To	Required	Defaults to the current user.
Status	Required	Open · In Progress · On Hold · Closed · Transferred.
Priority	Required	Low · Medium · High · Urgent. Defaults to Medium.
Linked Inbound Referral	Optional	Must belong to the same student and district.
Opened	Required	Defaults to today.
Closed	Conditional	Use when ending the case; cannot be before Opened.
First Referral	Optional	Date of first associated referral.
Last Referral	Optional	Cannot be before First Referral.
Presenting Concerns	Optional	Encrypted.
Case Plan	Optional	Encrypted.
Population Indicators	Optional	Four checkboxes; copied from the student when the case is opened.
Reportable / Crisis Related	Optional	Reportable is checked by default.
Referral Made Flags	Optional	Child protection · mental health · community · justice · health.
Closure Reason	Conditional	Required when status is Closed or Transferred.
Closure Summary	Optional	Encrypted; document results and handoff.