Educator’s Handbook: How to Submit an Office Referral (Step-by-Step Guide)

If your school uses Educator’s Handbook, learning how to submit an office referral takes less than five minutes once you know where everything lives.

This guide walks you through the entire process inside the Incidents+ app, from opening a new incident to adding the student, with a screenshot for every step.

What Is Educator’s Handbook?

Educator’s Handbook is a student discipline management system used by schools and districts to document behavior incidents, track office referrals, and keep a consistent record of what happened, where, and how it was resolved. Teachers and staff use the Incidents+ app to create referrals; administrators then review and process them.

An office referral is a formal record sent to school administration when a student’s behavior needs to go beyond classroom-level consequences. Writing it clearly matters: the referral becomes part of the student’s record and informs the administrator’s decision.

Before You Start

Make sure you have:

• Login access to the Incidents+ app (your school or district provides credentials)
• The student’s name or ID number
• The basic facts: where and when the incident happened, and what occurred

Tip: write referrals as soon as possible after the incident, while the details are fresh. Stick to observable facts rather than interpretations.

How to Submit an Office Referral in Educator’s Handbook

Step 1: Open Incidents+ and click New Incident

Log in to the Incidents+ app. Your inbox shows existing incidents on file. To start a referral, click the pink New Incident button at the top of the screen.

Step 2: Switch to the Referral tab

A dialog titled New Office Referral opens with two tabs: Incident and Referral. Click the Referral tab to start an office referral instead of a general incident report.

Step 3: Begin the referral form

Click the highlighted button to open the new office referral form. This is where you will enter every detail of the referral.

Step 4: Select where the incident took place

Open the location dropdown and choose where the incident happened, for example Classroom, Hallway, Cafeteria, Library, or Gym. Pick the option that matches most closely.

Step 5: Open the Subject field

Click the Choose a Subject… field to open the subject dropdown. This records which class or subject the incident relates to.

Step 6: Pick the subject or choose N/A

Select the subject from the list (options include Library/Media Center, Lunch, Math, Online, PE, Science, Social Studies, and Transportation). If the incident is not tied to a subject, choose N/A.

Step 7: Open the Arrangement field

Click Choose an Arrangement… to describe how students were arranged when the incident occurred.

Step 8: Choose the arrangement or N/A

Pick the arrangement that fits, such as Dev. Play, Field Trip, Group, Lecture, or Lunch. If none applies, choose N/A.

Step 9: Open the Offense field

Click Choose an Offense… to open the list of offense codes. This is the formal reason for the referral, so choose carefully.

Step 10: Select the offense

Scroll through the numbered offense list and click the one that matches the behavior, for example “47. Willful disobedience of a directive.” Match the code to what actually happened.

Step 11: Open the description field

Click Provide a Description… to open the narrative box. A strong description is factual, specific, and free of opinion.

Step 12: Write what happened and click Add

Type a clear narrative of the incident: what happened, in what order, and who was involved. Stick to observable facts. When you are done, click the pink ADD button to save the description.

Step 13: Click Add a Student

Back on the referral form, click the Add a Student… row (marked with a +) to attach the student to the referral.

Step 14: Find and select the student

Type the student’s name or ID number into the search field, then click the correct student in the dropdown results to attach them to the referral.

Step 15: Save the referral

With the student attached, the form is complete. Click Save at the top of the New Office Referral dialog to file the referral. Before saving, double-check the location, subject, arrangement, offense code, description, and student for accuracy.

Tips for Writing a Strong Office Referral

• Be specific. “Refused to stay seated during instruction after two redirections” beats “was disruptive.”
• Keep it factual. Describe what you saw and heard, not what you think the student intended.
• Include the sequence. What happened first, what happened next, and how it ended.
• Double-check the offense code. The code determines how the referral is categorized and processed.
• Submit promptly. Same-day referrals are more accurate and more useful to administrators.

Educator’s Handbook Office Referral FAQ

Who can submit an office referral?
Any staff member with Incidents+ access, typically teachers, substitutes with accounts, and support staff, depending on district permissions.

Can I edit a referral after submitting it?
In most configurations, saved referrals lock for editing by the original author and go to an administrator. Check with your school admin if you need a correction.

What happens after I submit?
The saved referral enters your school’s review workflow. Typically the designated administrator reviews the incident, assigns consequences per school policy, and documents the outcome in the system.

Do I need to notify the student’s parents?
That depends on your school’s policy. Many schools require teacher or administrator parent contact for office referrals; check your handbook.

Where can I see referrals I have submitted?
Your Incidents+ inbox lists incidents on file, including referrals you created and their current status.

Final Thoughts

Submitting an office referral in Educator’s Handbook is a straightforward fifteen-step flow: open Incidents+, start a new referral, fill in the location, subject, arrangement, offense, and description, attach the student, and save. The whole process takes a few minutes, and doing it carefully gives administrators exactly what they need to act fairly and consistently. Meanwhile you can also read a short review of the whole process here in this Google’s guide.

More guides for educators: our Gimkit host guide walks through creating and running classroom games, the Blooket alternatives roundup covers the best classroom quiz tools for 2026, and if your school network blocks teacher dashboards, see how to host Blooket when the teacher dashboard is blocked.

Related Guides

More step-by-step school guides from AxeeTech:

• Flex Securly: upload students to the All Student group
• Ekadence AUHSD: copy modules to current classes
• Blooket sign up for teachers and students
• Alief Hub access guide