Release Notes

Internal: removed legacy sidebar template and added regression test guard.

Removed the old AdminLTE sidebar template (sidebar.html) and its backup (base_adminlte.bak.html), both of which were dead code still containing the original N+1 query pattern that was fixed in the previous release. Retaining dead code with a live bug pattern is a latent regression risk. An integration-level test has been added to verify that the feature-gating context processor correctly injects the batch-loaded feature catalog into every authenticated request — closing the gap where unit tests covered template tag behavior in isolation but not the end-to-end wiring.

Fixes and Improvements¶

• Removed legacy AdminLTE sidebar template (dead code with original N+1 bug pattern)
• Added integration test to guard against accidental removal of the feature-gating context processor

Internal performance fix: sidebar loads faster with fewer database queries.

Each page load was triggering multiple unnecessary database round-trips when rendering the navigation sidebar. Premium feature badges were each issuing their own database query instead of sharing a single batch load. The fix pre-loads all feature tier information once per request and shares it across all sidebar items, reducing redundant database operations on every page view.

Fixes and Improvements¶

• Eliminated N+1 database queries in sidebar premium badge rendering
• Feature tier data is now batch-loaded once per request via the context processor
• Premium badge and upgrade prompt tags now read from pre-loaded context instead of querying the database per item

Student attendance pages now load faster — no matter how many records a student has.

If a student had a busy year and racked up dozens of attendance records, their profile's attendance tab was quietly doing a lot more work than it needed to. Every single record was triggering a separate round-trip to look up which class the student was in for that day — sometimes 59 trips for a single page load.

We caught this through our performance monitoring, and the fix was straightforward: we now fetch all the class information in one step alongside the attendance records. The page renders the same way, but with a fraction of the work behind the scenes. Schools with large or long-running student rosters will notice the biggest improvement.

Fixes and Improvements¶

• Attendance tab on student profiles now loads significantly faster for students with many records
• Fixes performance issue first detected February 18, 2026 (Sentry #7274443449)

Fix: Gradebook/attendance merge confirmation now works correctly when students need review.

When merging a linked gradebook and attendance tracker that had students requiring manual review (fuzzy name matches or over-capacity rosters), the confirmation step could silently fail. The backend was not including the partner tool's token in its response, so the confirm-merge request had no way to identify the other side of the link. Separately, the over-capacity student list was built from a key that does not exist in the response, so the selection UI always showed empty.

Both issues are now fixed: the needs_selection response includes the correct cross-tool token, and the over-capacity list is assembled from the actual new_to_gradebook / new_to_tracker arrays the backend already returns.

Fixes¶

• Merge confirmation from the gradebook side now forwards attendance_token correctly
• Merge confirmation from the attendance tracker side now forwards gradebook_token correctly
• Over-capacity student checkboxes now populate from the correct response fields in both tools

New: Free Attendance Tracker foundation (models + landing page).

Added the data models and SEO-optimized landing page for the free attendance tracker tool. Teachers and homeschool parents can soon track daily attendance for up to 10 students -- free forever, no account required. The landing page at /free-attendance/ includes structured data for search engines, FAQ section, and cross-promotion of the free gradebook and transcript tools.

Additions¶

• FreeAttendanceTracker, FreeAttendanceStudent, and FreeAttendanceRecord public schema models
• SEO landing page at /free-attendance/ with JSON-LD structured data and FAQ schema
• Cross-promotion links to Free Gradebook and Transcript Builder
• "free_attendance" source added to MarketingLead for lead tracking

New: Personal founder welcome email template for new signups.

Added a reusable email template for sending a personal welcome note from Ike to brand-new customers who just completed signup. Unlike the automated system welcome, this is a warm, conversational first-touch that introduces Ike, connects over shared values, and opens a genuine conversation about the school.

Additions¶

• New new_customer_welcome_v1 outreach template with customizable variables for school name, type, location, and closing question

Improved: Email delivery tracking with Brevo message IDs.

Switched from SMTP to Brevo's API for sending emails. Every email sent through NavEd now captures the Brevo message ID, enabling delivery tracking, bounce handling, and webhook correlation. This applies to both individual and bulk email sends.

Improvements¶

• Email backend upgraded from SMTP to Brevo API via django-anymail
• Brevo message IDs now stored in every email send log entry
• Bulk emails capture per-recipient message IDs for granular tracking

Elective enrollments are now fully protected from accidental removal.

If you've ever used the subject enrollment page to update a student's regular subjects, there was a risk that their elective enrollments could silently disappear in the process. This happened because the page's save logic compared what was checked against everything the student was enrolled in — including electives that weren't even visible on the form.

We've fixed both copies of the enrollment page so that electives are completely excluded from the save logic. The enrollment page now only shows and manages regular subjects. Elective enrollment continues to be handled exclusively through the dedicated electives page, where it belongs.

Fixes and Improvements¶

• Elective subjects no longer appear as checkboxes on the subject enrollment page
• Saving regular subject enrollments can no longer accidentally delete elective enrollments
• Added automated tests to prevent this issue from ever returning