New Report Card Builder - Pagination Issue

Scott Chrysler

I have been proofing our Q3 report cards and noticed the new report card builder is paginating differently than it has in the past. For the setting “If the content doesn't fit”, we have “Only page break between different elements of course (grades, comments, skills)” selected.

Previously, when a comment would not fit in the remaining space on a page, there would be a page break, and the next comment would begin at the top of the next page. Now, the course name and the teacher's name are printed immediately after the end of the previous comment, there is a page break, the course name is repeated on the top of the next page and the comment is printed.

This is not how this feature behaved previously, and we really do not like how this looks. It gives the initial impression to the reader that the comment was omitted. The fact the teacher's name is not included again indicates to me something is amiss. I have fiddled with the “If the content does not fit” settings to no avail. I have adjusted the margins, but that just moves the issue to another comment.

I have submitted a help desk ticket (020021657) and am hopeful there will be a resolution before we publish to families on Friday afternoon.

Just a heads up for those of you using the New Report Card builder and who have report cards soon.

Scott

noreply reports

@Scott Chrysler Hi Scott - Did you get any response on this? We have noticed it as well. Thanks, Bob Raymond SYA

Scott Chrysler

@noreply reports - Bob, support said it is behaving as designed. As we do not print report cards, I do not have an example of how the report cards looked prior to show them. Very frustrating.

Scott

Scott Chrysler

@noreply reports - After miraculously tracking down printed sample versions of how our report card had page breaks before so Blackbaud could compare compared to how it has page breaks now, I received the following update from Blackbaud this morning:

Hello Scott,

I hope all is well. I just want to let you know that our development team has reviewed this case, they have concluded that this is working as expected. We have had recent changes to how we render <div> tags and other HTML elements, this may have caused some changes in the spacing and now the page jump is easier to see but this is the way the report card was designed.

“May have caused…”? Mmmmmmm - no, did cause. My frustration with this is high. We spend significant time designing a report card within the constraints of the new report card builder that we feel represents the school well and conveys all of the necessary information. We use it for a year and a half, our parents love it, and Blackbaud changes how the builder performs…without telling us. To top it off, when first asked in March, they said it was behaving as intended. It was only after I spent the time tracking down old hard copies to show them it had changed that they responded that they had changed how the reports render.

noreply reports

@Scott Chrysler Amen. It is very frustrating. Makes our report cards look hodge-podge awful.

Scott Chrysler

@noreply reports & @Michael Morrissette - Well, I got hopeful - silly me. Support said they would bring this issue back to development and work on getting the pagination returned to how it was functioning when the report cards were designed. Last night at 11:54, I received the following:

Hello Scott,

I hope all is well. I just wanted to follow up on our case and let you know that unfortunately our development team insists that the report cards are working as intended, any change would be considered an enhancement request and those changes must be posted in the ideas portal before being taken under consideration because they will affect all the schools.

I'm sorry tat our development team has concluded that the changes to the report card that will fix the page break issue is not current under consideration.

Please let me know if you have questions. The link below will take you to Case Central where you can view your case and add updates or notes to this case:

I am not really sure how when this:

changes to this:

They can say it is working as designed. Yet again, let down by Blackbaud development. Not a nice way to start July.

Scott

Scott Chrysler

@noreply reports, @Michael Morrissette - A follow-up thumbs up for Blackbaud today. At the end of a discovery session with @Jacqueline Koca, she informed me that this support case is still open and the development team is working on possible solutions. Evidently, some wires got crossed, and I should not have received last night's email. As I was quick to sound off when I was displeased, I also want to be quick to be appreciative. I am hopeful there will be a solution for the opening of school.

Scott

Scott Chrysler

@noreply reports, @Michael Morrissette, @Jacqueline Koca

And back to thumbs down. This morning, I received the following from Blackbaud:

Hello Scott,

Thank you again for your patience while we investigated the report card formatting issue you observed around April 22, 2025.

After discussing this with our internal resources, I wanted to share some clarity. The behavior you're seeing—where the course header appears at the bottom of one page and then repeats at the top of the next—was the result of an intentional system change. This adjustment was made to resolve cases where incorrect data was being displayed at page breaks under certain conditions.

To ensure the accuracy of the data shown, the underlying logic for how content behaves across page breaks had to be updated. We explored multiple formatting options to preserve the original layout while still displaying correct data, but ultimately, this approach offered the best balance with minimal disruption to existing formatting.

If you have any further questions or would like to discuss this in more detail, I’m happy to assist.

The link below will take you to Case Central where you can view your case and add updates or notes to this case:

https://app.blackbaud.com/support/cases/

For reference, your organization’s site id is XXX and is used to help identify your organization when contacting Blackbaud.

Sincerely,

—-

Add this to the issues we are experiencing with grade entry for our interim reporting period, and Blackbaud is not really high up on my "recommend to others" list right now.

As a member school of the disrupted group, I regret Blackbaud views this and us as "minimal."

Scott

noreply reports

wow, that was a long 4 month climb for a short, disappointing slide. I am curious what the "incorrect data" could be? really worse than the confusing report card headers?