Caseload at a glance
Every family who's invited you, sorted by next deadline. Whose annual review is in 30 days. Whose IEP draft you owe. Who's quiet — for the right reasons.
The caseload, the records, the meetings — in one place a parent already sees.
Most case managers track 20–60 students across a binder, a district SIS, two spreadsheets, and a handful of emails. Gardenia gives you a single workspace that parents are already in — so you stop re-explaining and start collaborating.
Built around the way you actually work
Not another district platform.
Gardenia is parent-owned by design. You join a child's workspace by parent invitation — same way you'd invite a co-teacher to a Google Doc. No district roll-out, no new password to remember, no IT ticket.
Meeting prep, co-authored
Parents bring questions. You bring data. Each meeting prep packet is a shared scratch pad — concerns, talking points, draft outcomes — visible to whoever the parent grants access.
Direct messages, scoped
Comment thread per document, per deadline, per meeting. The parent owns the room; you participate without the message ever leaving the workspace.
Audit log, both ways
Every read and write is logged with the actor, the action, and the timestamp. Parents see when you accessed records. You see when consent was granted or revoked.
Boundaries that hold
Teacher access is per-child, time-bound, and revocable. When the year ends or the family moves, access ends cleanly — no orphan accounts, no shared inboxes.
Workbook prompts you can assign
Nicole's 14-chapter handbook has parent-facing prompts and teacher-facing prompts. Assign a chapter to a family ahead of a meeting and read their answers before you walk in.
Real role-based access
You see what the parent shared. Nothing more.
Each child grant is scoped — read documents, comment on prep packets, propose meeting times. The parent stays the source of truth and can revoke access at any time, with a clean audit log on both sides.
“Permission revoked at 3:14pm. The grant log proves it.”P
ROLE: parentParent (PRIMARY_PARENT)
Owns workspace, grants access, exports records.
T
ROLE: teacherTeacher
Can read documents the parent shares, propose prep packet edits.
A
ROLE: advocateAdvocate
Booked or invited; sees IEPs + can draft letters with consent.
T
ROLE: therapistTherapist
Sees only the deadlines + reflections the parent unlocks.
Where it earns its keep
Three weekday moments.
Sunday night
Glance at next week
Caseload sorted by next deadline. Three families with annual reviews in <30 days. Two need draft IEPs by Friday.
Tuesday lunch
Co-edit meeting prep
Open the prep packet for Wednesday's meeting. Add three talking points to the parent's draft. Mark which goal you'd revise.
Friday afternoon
Send the draft IEP
Upload the proposed IEP to the family workspace. Parent reads it, comments, and replies — without printing or scanning.
Less time chasing folders. More time teaching.
Free for individual teachers up to a 3-family caseload. Larger caseloads upgrade to Teacher Pro for unlimited family invitations and meeting prep co-authoring.