Managing Classrooms

Managing Classrooms

Classrooms in Shibutz represent the target groups that students will be placed into. Before you can generate a placement, you need at least two classrooms defined.

Creating a Placement Workspace

A placement workspace is the container for one grade, school year, or planning scenario. When you create a workspace, give it a recognizable name such as "Grade 3 placement 2026". Shibutz then opens a short setup guide that focuses on the two essentials for first value: students and destination classrooms.

You do not need to configure every preference or restriction before you begin. Add the roster and classrooms first, generate a placement, and use the review signals to decide which rules need more attention.

Free accounts include 1 placement workspace. If you need to prepare multiple grade levels, campuses, or school years at the same time, upgrade to Pro for unlimited workspaces.

Creating a New Classroom

From a placement workspace, click "Add Classroom" to create a new destination classroom. If no classrooms exist yet, the empty classroom list includes the same action and moves you directly to the classroom form. Each classroom needs:

• Classroom name— A label like "Class A", "Room 201", or "Mrs. Cohen's Class". Pick whatever naming convention your school uses.

You can create as many classrooms as you need. The algorithm will distribute students across all defined classrooms.

Copying a Placement Workspace

If another placement workspace already has the students, classrooms, preferences, restrictions, required placements, or settings you need, you can copy it into a fresh workspace and edit from there. This works for a new placement cycle, a backup version, or a second planning scenario for the same group.

When you create a new workspace, choose Copy existing, pick the workspace you want to start from, and optionally give the copy a new name. Shibutz duplicates:

• Students and all of their attributes
• Classrooms, teacher names, and capacities
• Friend preferences and restrictions
• Required placements and placement settings

Generated results are not copied. They describe one finished placement snapshot, so the new workspace starts clean and ready for you to generate fresh placements once you've made your edits.

The copy is entirely your own — it lives under your account, separate from the source, so you can change students or classrooms without touching the original workspace.

Assigning Teacher Names

Each classroom can optionally have a teacher name assigned. This is purely for labeling — it appears on the dashboard, in results, and in exported Excel files so staff can easily identify which classroom is which.

To set a teacher name, edit the classroom and fill in the teacher field. You can change it at any time without affecting student placements.

Setting Classroom Capacity

Each classroom can have an optional maximum number of students. When set, this classroom limit overrides the global "Default Students per Classroom" value from Placement Settings. When left blank, the classroom uses the workspace default if one is set; if the workspace default is also blank, the classroom has no capacity cap.

This is useful when certain classrooms have physical room constraints or staffing differences. The capacity is displayed in the workspace and in results, helping you plan around real-world limits.

If the total capacity across all classrooms is less than the number of students, the Constraint Health panel on the dashboard will flag a capacity overflow error so you can fix it before generating.

Custom Capacity Badge

When you set a custom classroom capacity, Shibutz shows a Capacity limit badge in the classroom table and in placement results. This makes it easy to spot classrooms with custom capacity at a glance.

Common examples include resource rooms, inclusion classrooms, or rooms with additional support staff. The badge helps administrators and teachers quickly identify these special groups when reviewing placements.

Classroom Notes

Each classroom has an optional notes field where you can add internal details. Notes appear below the classroom name in the classroom table, so they're visible without opening the editor.

Use notes for anything that helps your team — for example, "Room 201", "Morning session", or "Co-taught with Ms. Levy".

Editing and Deleting Classrooms

Click the edit button on any classroom row to modify its name, teacher, capacity, or notes. To delete a classroom, use the delete option. Keep in mind:

• Deleting a classroom will also delete any required placements associated with it.
• You must always have at least two classrooms to run the placement generator.
• Changing a classroom name does not affect previously generated results — those are snapshots taken at generation time.

How Classrooms Relate to Placements

When you generate a placement, the algorithm places every student into one of the defined classrooms. The number of classrooms directly affects classroom sizes — more classrooms means fewer students per classroom.

You can also control the default number of students per classroom through Placement Settings. If the student count exceeds what your classrooms can hold, the algorithm will let you know.

If you set a custom capacity for individual classrooms, those limits override the global setting from Placement Settings. Classrooms without a custom limit use the workspace default when one is set.

If you want certain students guaranteed in a specific classroom, use Required Placements to lock them in before generating.