Blackout Dates

Target Audience: Administrators (Buzz Platform)
Teachers may also find this article helpful.

Blackout dates prevent Buzz from assigning due dates on days when students are not expected to complete coursework, such as school holidays, testing days, or other planned breaks.

Whether your program allows teachers to assign due dates manually or relies on automatically generated due dates, administrators should configure blackout dates in the domain settings before the school year begins.

Understanding Blackout Dates

Basic Blackout Date Functionality

• Blackout dates added at the domain level automatically flow down to all subdomains and courses.
• This ensures that students do not receive assignment due dates on designated non-instructional days.
• Blackout dates should be added before students begin the semester.

Important: If blackout dates are added after students have started a course, Buzz recalculates due dates both before and after the current date. As a result, assignments that were previously due in the future may suddenly appear overdue.

Best Practice: Add all known school holidays and scheduled breaks prior to the start of the school year.

Note: We do not recommend adding blackout dates for unexpected closures, such as snow days or emergency school cancellations.

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Adding Blackout Dates at the Domain Level

Administrators should add all school-wide non-instructional dates by completing the following steps:

1. Log in to the Buzz Admin App.
2. From the homepage, select the ellipsis menu (three dots) and choose Domain Settings.

3. Locate the Blackout dates section.
4. Select Add.
5. Enter a name for the blackout date (for example, Winter Break or Teacher Workday).
6. Enter the appropriate dates:
   • For a single-day event, enter the same date in both the Start Date and End Date fields.
   • For a multi-day break, enter the first and last dates of the break.
7. Select Done.

8. Repeat Steps 4–7 for each additional blackout date.
9. Select Save in the upper-right corner of the Domain Settings page.

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Course-Level Blackout Dates

Teachers and administrators can also add blackout dates at the individual course level for events such as field trips or special class activities.

However, course-level blackout dates should be used with caution.

Warning: Administrators should always add school-wide blackout dates at the domain level before teachers add blackout dates at the course level.

Important Considerations

• Once course-level blackout dates are added, future changes made at the domain level no longer flow down to that course.
• Any additional school-wide blackout dates added later must be entered manually in affected courses.
• Because of this behavior, we recommend limiting course-level blackout dates to exceptional circumstances only.

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Adding Blackout Dates at the Course Level

Teachers or administrators may add blackout dates to a specific course after domain-level blackout dates have been configured.

1. Access the course:
   • Teachers: From the Teacher App homepage, select the pencil icon for the course.
   • Administrators: Navigate to the course details page and access the editor from the hamburger menu.
2. Select the wrench icon, then choose Course Settings.

3. Locate the Blackout dates section.
4. Review the existing blackout dates. Important: If school-wide blackout dates are missing or appear incomplete, stop and contact your administrator before adding any course-level blackout dates.

5. Add any additional course-specific blackout dates as needed.
6. Select Save in the upper-right corner of the Course Settings page.

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Best Practices

✔ Add all school-wide blackout dates at the domain level before the start of the school year.
✔ Use course-level blackout dates only for course-specific events.
✔ Verify domain blackout dates before adding any course-level dates.
✔ Save changes after adding or modifying blackout dates.

❌ Do not add school-wide blackout dates at the course level.
❌ Do not add blackout dates after students have begun coursework unless absolutely necessary.
❌ Do not add unexpected closure days (such as snow days) as blackout dates.