SchoolMessenger_App_Teacher_User-Web

SchoolMessenger App

Teacher User Guide - Web

West Corporation

100 Enterprise Way, Suite A-300

Scotts Valley, CA 95066

800-920-3897

www.schoolmessenger.com!

 
Contents 
Welcome!  3 ...................................................................................................................
SchoolMessenger and the TCPA  3 ......................................................................................................
Creating a SchoolMessenger App Account   5 .................................................................
Sign Up  5 ...........................................................................................................................................
Log In  6 ..............................................................................................................................................
Log Out  6 ............................................................................................................................................
When You First Sign In…  7 .............................................................................................
When your email address isn’t associated with school-enabled records…  7 .........................................
Claim by Phone  8 ............................................................................................................................................................................
Notiﬁcation Preferences  9 .............................................................................................
Contacts  10 ...................................................................................................................
Plus Data  10 .......................................................................................................................................
Group Pages and Group Types  11 ..................................................................................
Automatic Groups  12 ..........................................................................................................................
Teacher-Created Groups  13 ................................................................................................................
Creating a Group  13 ........................................................................................................................................................................
Joining a Group  14 .........................................................................................................................................................................
Leaving a Group  15 .........................................................................................................................................................................
Removing Participants in a Group  15 ............................................................................................................................................
Deleting a Group and Editing a Group Name  16 ...........................................................................................................................
Messages  16 .................................................................................................................
Broadcast Message   17 ......................................................................................................................
Teacher Messaging  19 ........................................................................................................................
Teacher Accounts vs Student/Guardian Accounts  20 .................................................................................................................
Create a Message  21 ......................................................................................................................................................................
Add an Attachment to Your Message  22 ...........................................................................................................................................................
Select your Comment Settings  23 .....................................................................................................................................................................
Delete an Entire Message Thread or a Member Comment  24 .....................................................................................................
Responding to a SchoolMessenger App Message  24 ..................................................................................................................
Add an Attachment to a Reply  25 ......................................................................................................................................................................
SchoolMessenger App with SafeArrival  26 .....................................................................
Views  27 ............................................................................................................................................
Calendar View  27 ............................................................................................................................................................................
List View  28 .....................................................................................................................................................................................
Absences  28 .......................................................................................................................................
Reporting an Absence  28 ...............................................................................................................................................................
Editing an Absence  29 ....................................................................................................................................................................
Deleting an Absence  29 ..................................................................................................................................................................
Explaining an Absence  29 ..............................................................................................................................................................
Manage PIN Settings  30 .....................................................................................................................
Questions?  30...............................................................................................................
©2018 West Corp. [11082018]. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without express written permission. 2

Welcome!

The SchoolMessenger app allows schools and school districts to inform you about school-related emergencies,

school closures, attendance or other school-related issues.

Once you've created your account, we'll automatically link the records associated with your email address. You

can then:

•

View the records associated with your account - student, staff, parent

records.

•

Review the last 30 days-worth of messages for all your associated

records.

•

View your contact information and conﬁgure how you would like to

receive notiﬁcations.

Depending on your district’s settings, you’ll be able to:

•

Send messages to automatically-created groups associated with your account.

•

Create groups with generated codes you can distribute to those who you want join.

For schools subscribing to SchoolMessenger’s SafeArrival system, teachers who are also parents have the

ability to report planned absences, late arrivals, early departures to the school in advance.

For schools subscribing to SchoolMessenger’s Plus Data system, teachers who are also parents have the ability

to view student grades, lunch balance data, class and bus schedules, etc.

You will ﬁnd all of these messages in an easily-accessible inbox. If you are associated with students in different

schools or districts, all matching records will be linked to your account. With flexible preference controls, most

kinds of communication can be conﬁgured to be accessed exclusively via the SchoolMessenger app.

SchoolMessenger and the TCPA

Welcome Page

On SchoolMessenger’s home page you’ll see the following screen with the below options:

1. Click the icon to access more options.

2. Click either Log in or Sign up to access the SchoolMessenger app.

3. Download the mobile app from either Apple’s App Store or Android’s Google Play page.

4. Click the link for a quick informational video.

Creating a SchoolMessenger App Account

You must create an account in the SchoolMessenger app before you can start using it.

Sign Up

1. Enter the following URL in your browser’s address bar: go.schoolmessenger.com

2. Click Sign Up on the menu.

Important: If you already have an email address that the school has on record, use this email

address when you sign up.

3. Enter your email address, your location and a password.

Your password must contain have at least:

•

1 lowercase letter

•

1 uppercase letter

•

1 number

•

6 characters

You will be sent an email at the email address provided. Click the link

in the email to verify your account. A new page will open on your

browser.

Note: the link in the email is only valid for 24 hours. If you don’t click

on it and log into the SchoolMessenger app within that time

period, it will expire and be of no further use. You will have to

restart the registration process and have a new email sent to

you with a renewed link.

Our support teams would have entered your email address into their

system. As your information is registered in the school or district

records, you will receive all the messages you have subscribed to

receive from the school. You must use this same email address in

creating your SchoolMessenger app account.

Your school’s district admin will conﬁgure your message settings

and what features you will see when you log in.

3. Return to the SchoolMessenger app.

4. Enter the same email address and password you used to create the account.

5. Click Log In. A message appears that you’ve successfully logged in. You may now launch the app and

log in using the same email address and password you used to create the account.

Log In

To log into the SchoolMessenger app:

1. Click on Log In on the menu bar.

2. Enter the email address you used to register in the

SchoolMessenger app.

3. Enter your password.

4. Select your location. United States is selected as

default. If your school is in Canada, click Switch location.

5. Click Log in.

Click on Forgot your password? if you forgot your password. An

email will be sent to you allowing you to register a new

password.

Log Out

1. Click the icon in the upper left corner of your screen.

2. Click Log out.

When You First Sign In…

After successfully logging in with a veriﬁed email, you should expect to see any messages that you’ve recently

received for any Contacts - student, staff, and/or guardian records - associated with your account email address.

You can navigate through your district-enabled options by using the left navigation bar.

Your account information and contacts will already be inputted into the system based on the information you’ve

provided to your school or district.

When your email address isn’t associated with school-enabled

records…

If your email address doesn’t match

with any records kept by the school,

you’ll see the below screen after your

log in:

Claim by Phone

If the SchoolMessenger app isn’t able to match your email to any contact data in their systems, your message

inbox will appear empty. You’ll have the option to try to match a potential school record using your phone

number.

1. Click the “…search for

contacts by phone” link

at the bottom of the

screen. A window pops

up asking you to input

your phone number.

2. Enter your phone number

your school district has

on ﬁle.

3. Select an option to

receive a veriﬁcation

code.

4. Click Send Code. A

veriﬁcation code will be

sent to the number you

entered.

5. Input the veriﬁcation code your received and click Verify.

If veriﬁcation was successful, you’ll see the following screen:

•

If the system found additional contacts, they will be automatically added to your app under CONTACTS.

•

If the system didn’t ﬁnd additional contacts, you can:

o

try another number by clicking the “Try another phone number?” link.

o

contact your school district to verify that you have the correct phone number they have on ﬁle.

Notiﬁcation Preferences

This page allows you to view and edit how you’re contacted by your district when they send broadcast

messages. The preferences on this page affect SchoolMessenger Broadcasts that may be sent to you from the

school/district. They do not affect messages sent and received through teacher messaging within the

SchoolMessenger app.

Access your notiﬁcation preferences by clicking the menu icon and clicking Preferences.

1. School / District: The school district in which your email address is associated with is listed here.

2. My contact information: Displays all the email addresses and phone numbers (voice and SMS text) at

which you can be contacted. The icons in green indicate that you’ve given your consent to be contacted

via that message type (phone, text, or email). The icons in grey indicate you’ve chosen not to be notiﬁed

on that number via that message type.

Note: Your district will control over whether you’ll be able to edit or delete this information. You

will know which phone numbers or email addresses can be deleted if they have a small X next to

it. While the ability to edit or delete contact information may be limited by your school district,

you can change your consent selections and preferences at any time.

3. Add more: Click this button to add more email addresses or phone numbers that aren’t already listed. If

this button is not present, your district has disabled this ability.

4. My message preferences: Click each message category (emergency, attendance, etc.) to view which

contact email addresses and phone numbers will be contacted. You can also adjust your notiﬁcation

preferences for each message type here.

Note: The maximum number of phone numbers and email numbers you can enter into the system is

controlled by your district admin.

Contacts

Important: The contacts listed here are connected to the email address for your account. If this email is

not correct or if your school has an incorrect email on ﬁle, then contacts may not appear on this page.

You’ll see a contact card with your name and school district located here. If you’re also a parent to a child in the

same district, you will see your child’s name with their school and district.

Access your contacts by clicking the icon and clicking Contacts.

Note: If you are missing contacts, click the “Is someone still missing?” link at the bottom of the screen to

claim possible missing contacts using your phone number. If that doesn’t work, please contact your

school or district.

Plus Data

You will see more information for each contact if your school or district have

subscribed and purchased the SchoolMessenger App Plus Module. The data

shown depends on what your school and district have chosen to record and

display.

You will know if your school has purchased the Plus Module if you see the

small arrow beneath the contact. Clicking the contact displays the Plus

data.

In the example to the right, this school district has chosen to track and

display the student’s meal balance, attendance, bus and class schedule.

Group Pages and Group Types

If enabled by your district, you will see a and option in your menu.

The differences between the two pages are listed below:

Depending on what your district has enabled, there are two types of groups you will see in both the Join Groups

page and the Manage Groups page:

•

Automatic Groups: Groups you’re automatically joined with linked to your account.

•

Teacher-Created Groups: Groups created by you that you can edit or delete. You can join and leave

groups other teachers have created if given an access code.

Join Groups Page (Participant and/or

Group Teacher)

Manage Groups Page (Group Teacher)

•

All groups you’re a member of, whether

you’re the group teacher or just a participant,

appear here.

•

When you click the groups listed on this

page, you will only see the name of the group

teacher and not the other participants in the

group.

•

You can join, leave and view groups you have

the access code for here.

•

You can view all of the groups you’re linked

to automatically as a participant based on

your account here.

•

Only groups that you’ve either created or are

joined automatically as the main group

teacher based on your account appear here.

•

You can see all participants.

•

You can create groups and generate access

codes here. You can also delete and edit

these groups here.

Automatic Groups

Automatic groups will have an address book icon next to its name and are created using district data.

If an automatic group appears in your Manage Groups page, you’re the “Group Teacher” and will be able to see

all participants linked to that group. Participants who don’t have a SchoolMessenger app account will be greyed

out and marked as “Unregistered”. These accounts will become live as soon as they create a SchoolMessenger

app account with the email address they use with the school.

You can be either a participant or the group teacher if an automatic group is in your Join Groups page.

Automatic groups that you’re only a participant in will only appear on this page, not the Manage Groups page

and you will not be able to view the other participants of that group.

Unlike teacher-created groups, automatic groups cannot be edited by the teacher. There isn’t a Details button

that will allow the user to change the group name or delete the group. Teachers also can’t remove or add

participants and participants can’t remove or add themselves into these groups.

These groups are created at the district level and you will need to speak with your school if you’re a part of a

group you shouldn’t be in, or if there’s a participant in your group that shouldn’t be there.

Teacher-Created Groups

If enabled by your district, teachers can create conversation or discussion groups in which students, guardians

and other school staff can participate. But before such participation can occur, participants must have a record

or user account in Communicate. This is implemented by your school and SchoolMessenger staff. If you have a

participant in mind for a group you’d like to create, that isn’t a student, guardian or teacher, speak with your

school to ensure they have a record with SchoolMessenger linked to your school. That record must have the

same email address that they use to create their SchoolMessenger account.

Once participants create a SchoolMessenger app account that links successfully to a Communicate record, they

can use the access code generated and provided by the teacher to join the group.

Teacher-created groups will have a coloured icon with the group teacher’s initials next to its name:

Participants can join as many groups as they are invited to participate in.

Creating a Group

Note: If group creation has been disabled by your district, you will not have a CREATE A GROUP link.

1. Click the menu option.

2. Click the link. If you already have created one or more groups, they will be listed on

this page. Otherwise, you will only see a prompt to create a new group.

3. Create a name for the group (e.g. Chess Club).

4. Click Create.

5. The SchoolMessenger app will create your group, and then generate and assign a group access code.

This is the code that anyone wishing to join the group will be required to enter before they can become a

member of the group. A unique code is generated for each group you create.

6. Click Done to return to the Manage Groups page. The group you just created will appear on the next

screen with 0 members.

7. Distribute the access code to those you want to add to your group so that they can join.

Note: You can’t add members to your group. You can only provide the Group access code to the people

you wish to join. They will need to download the SchoolMessenger app and join the group themselves.

Joining a Group

Teachers can set up conversation or discussion groups in which students, guardians, and other school staff can

participate. But before such participation can occur, participants must be invited and provided an access code

to join the group.

Participants can join as many groups as they are invited to participate in. To join a group:

1. Obtain the access code from the group teacher.

2. Click on the menu option.

3. Click on the link.

4. In the Join Group window, enter the access code

that was provided to you.

5. Click on Join.

The group you’ve just joined will appear at the bottom of

the list.

Leaving a Group

You can only leave teacher-created groups. You will not be able to leave automatic groups you’ve been assigned

to. If you’re a participant of a group you’re not supposed to be a part of, contact your school district to correct

this.

1. Click on the menu

option.

2. Click on Leave Group to the right of the

group you wish to leave.

3. Conﬁrm that you no longer want to be

part of the group in the next window.

Removing Participants in a Group

You can only remove participants from groups you’ve created. You will not be able to remove participants from

automatic groups you’ve been assigned to as the Group Teacher.

1. Click on the Manage Groups menu option.

2. Click on the group you wish to remove members from.

3. Click the X next to the group member to remove them from the group.

4. Conﬁrm that you would like the member removed by tapping Yes.

The member will be gone from your list of participants and will no longer see any group messages.

Deleting a Group and Editing a Group Name

You can only delete and edit groups you’ve created. You will not be able to delete and edit automatic groups

you’ve been assigned to as the Group Teacher or teacher-created groups you’ve joined as a participant.

1. Click on the Manage Groups menu option.

2. Click the group you wish to delete or edit.

3. Click the Details link in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

To delete the group:

1. Click the X Delete link in the

upper right-hand corner of the

screen.

2. Conﬁrm that you would like to

delete the group by clicking

Yes.

The group will be removed from your

list.

To edit the group name:

1. Click the current group name.

2. Edit the name.

3. Click Update to save your

changes.

Messages

The SchoolMessenger app's Messages page displays all

messages (voice, email, or text) sent to you from your school

and/or district during the last 30 days, as well as the messages

and conversations that have taken place in the

SchoolMessenger app group(s) you have joined.

They are sorted newest ﬁrst, oldest last. The headings of all

messages will appear on the left side of the Messages screen.!

There are two types of messages: !

• Broadcast Messages: Sent by the school or district as

SchoolMessenger Broadcasts (Emergency, Attendance,

General, etc.). These will expire and be removed from

your messages page after 30 days.

• Teacher-Sent Messages: Messages sent initially by teachers either publicly or privately to participants

who are members of a SchoolMessenger app group. Unless deleted by the teacher, these remain in your

message page indeﬁnitely.

Note:!The SchoolMessenger app automatically assigns the color and initial of the each of the student-

identiﬁcation circles. Neither the color nor the initial are editable.

Broadcast Message

Unlike with teacher-sent messages, these are messages sent by the school or district and not meant to be

replied to or engaged with within the SchoolMessenger app. These will expire and be removed from your

messages page after 30 days.

1. Broadcast messages are labelled with their type in the upper right-hand corner of the message.

2. Selected messages to be read will be highlighted in blue.

3. The message view type (Email, Voice or SMS) will be highlighted with a blue line.

Teacher Messaging

If enabled by your district, you may see messages sent by teachers to groups you’re a participant in and also

have the ability to send messages to groups you’re the main group teacher of. Unless deleted by the teacher or

yourself, these remain in your message page indeﬁnitely. These are different from Broadcast messages in that:

•

as a participant, you may be able to reply and engage with the sender and other participants.

•

as the main group teacher, you can send messages to groups straight from the app.

Your ability to comment on messages received from groups you’re a participant of depends on the message

settings determined by either the district, teacher, or both.

Below is an example of what a teacher-sent message looks like when opened.

Teacher Accounts vs Student/Guardian Accounts

In addition to receiving school/district messages and engaging in the SchoolMessenger app-based discussions

just like any other SchoolMessenger app user, teachers have additional abilities that students and parents do

not have.

The below table lists what each account type is able to do, depending on their district settings. Users who are

both a teacher and a parent will have the ability to do all of the below.

Teachers

Guardians and Students

•

Receive SchoolMessenger broadcast

messages sent from the school or district.

•

If enabled, create SchoolMessenger app

groups and invite students, parents, and

other school staff to participate in them.

•

Create and send messages to selected

recipients (any combination of all/selected

students/guardians).

•

Delete any comments sent by any participant

that have been posted in any of the message

threads that they have initiated.

•

Delete entire message threads that they’ve

initiated.

•

Leave teacher-created groups.

•

Engage in discussions and conversations in

any of the forums that they’ve created or are

a participant of.

•

View all members within a group (only if

they’re the main group teacher).

•

Receive SchoolMessenger broadcast

messages sent from the school or district.

•

Engage in discussions and conversations in

any of the groups they’re a participant of.

•

Delete any of their own messages that

they’ve sent to a message thread (website

only).

•

Leave teacher-created groups.

Create a Message

Creating a message is a very simple process. You select the recipients your message will be sent to, designate

whether their comments will be visible to others in the group, only visible to the teacher, or not at all (comment

not permitted).

1. Click on the menu option.

2. Click the button. The Select Recipients window appears.

3. Begin writing the name of speciﬁc recipients in the To: ﬁeld OR select the group you’d like to send a

message to. Reﬁne your list using the following options:

•

Clicking any of the All subgroup buttons.

•

Clicking the Reﬁne button. You can select

speciﬁc individuals from all subgroups.

•

Typing an individual’s name in the “To:”

ﬁeld. The SchoolMessenger app will

locate and display all records that

contain the sequence of letters you typed

in either the ﬁrst or last name. Click to

select the appropriate individual.

•

You can remove individuals from the

recipient list by clicking the X next to

their name.

4. Click Next. The Compose Message window appears.

5. Write your message in the message box provided.

•

Attach a ﬁle, if desired.

6. Select your comment settings.

7. Click Next.

For Automatic Groups

Teachers will not be able to send messages to Group Members who haven’t created a

SchoolMessenger app account. These participants are considered “Unregistered” and you won’t be

able to select them as recipients to your message.

These unregistered participants are not included when you select either the All Guardians, All

Students or Both buttons.

Add an Attachment to Your Message

Use attachments to send the following ﬁle types to parents, guardians and students:

•

images (PNG, JPG)

•

documents (PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX)

•

video (MP4)

•

audio (MP3, WAV, M4A)

Note: The max ﬁle size is 20MB and you can only send 1 attachment per message.

To attach a ﬁle:

1. Click the Add attachment icon: . After clicking the Attachment icon, the Upload box

appears.

2. Upload your ﬁle by either selecting it from your computer or dragging and dropping it into the space

provided.

3. If the attachment is correct, click

Next. If you wish to remove the

attachment, click the X to the right of

the attachment and click the Add

attachment icon to attach a new ﬁle.

Select your Comment Settings

You’ll then be prompted to select your Comment Settings:

•

Everyone in the conversation: comments to your message will be seen by the entire group

•

Me Privately: only the teacher will see comments sent by individuals

•

Comments not allowed: no one will be able to send a response

•

Commenters’ names: check the box to allow everyone to see everyone’s names

If you’re ready to send your message, click Create.

Note: The ability for recipients to reply to your Teacher Messages may be disabled at the district level. If

your replies have been disabled, you will only have 1 option when sending your message: “Comments Not

Allowed”.

Delete an Entire Message Thread or a Member Comment

•

Teachers can delete whole message threads or single comments.

•

Parents and students can delete their own comments (SchoolMessenger app website only).

Responding to a SchoolMessenger App Message

Anyone receiving a teacher-created message may read the message, and, under the appropriate circumstances,

read the comments of other group members and offer their own comments.

The circumstances are deﬁned by the teacher who created the original message or your district admin.

Messages may be conﬁgured so that:

•

comments can be entered and read by everyone.

•

comments can be entered by group members but will be received privately and read only by the teacher.

•

no comments are allowed.

•

group members won’t see each other’s names.

If comments are enabled:

1. Enter your response in the comment box

below.

2. Click the paper airplane button to

respond.

Add an Attachment to a Reply

Use attachments to send the following ﬁle types in your reply:

•

images (PNG, JPG)

•

documents (PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX)

•

video (MP4)

•

audio (MP3, WAV, M4A)

Note: The max ﬁle size is 20MB and you can only send 1 attachment per message.

To attach a ﬁle:

1. Click the blue paperclip icon. After clicking the Attachment icon, the Upload box appears.

2. Upload your ﬁle by either selecting it from your computer or dragging and dropping it into the space

provided.

Once your ﬁle is attached:

3. Write a corresponding comment to your picture (required).

4. If the attachment is correct, click the paper airplane button to send. If you wish to remove the

attachment, tap the X to the right of the attachment and click the blue paperclip icon to attach a new

ﬁle.

Tap the attachment in the message to view the attachment fully.

SchoolMessenger App with SafeArrival

If your email address is associated with at least one child in a school that is actively using SafeArrival, you will

see the option on the menu.

Note: If you don’t see the Attendance option or your children, check with the school to ensure they are

using SafeArrival and that you signed up with the email address they have on record for you.

Views

You can review and edit your child’s reported absences in two views: Calendar and List View.

Calendar View

Click the icon to see your child’s absences in a calendar. To go to the previous or next month, click the <

or > at the top of the calendar.

List View

Click the icon to view your child’s absences in a list. To scroll through the list of absences, the scroll bar

on the right-hand side of the screen to move the list.

Absences

Absences can be reported in advance for the school year. On the day of the absence however, absences cannot

be reported after the school’s cut-off time. The cut-off time is determined by the school and may vary. If

SafeArrival tells you it is past the cut-off time for reporting absences for the current day, you will need to contact

the school directly.

Reporting an Absence

1. Select .

2. Be sure to enter your selections for all of the requested items:

•

Select which student will be absent.

•

Select the type and reason for the absence.

•

Select the date(s) and any time(s) of the absence.

If the Send button is not activated, it means you’ve missed something.

3. Select Send to report the absence.

 "

Editing an Absence

If you have reported an absence in advance and decide that you need to edit the absence BEFORE the cut-off

time on the day of the absence, follow these steps:

1. Click the absence (in List View) or the day of the absence (in Calendar View), then Edit.

2. Make the required changes then click Send.

If you need to change the details for an absence after the cut-off time on the day of the absence, contact the

school directly.

Deleting an Absence

If you have reported an absence in advance and decide that you need to delete the absence BEFORE the cut-off

time on the day of the absence, follow these steps:

1. Click the absence (in List View) or the day of the absence (in Calendar View), then Delete.

2. Click Delete to conﬁrm that you want to delete the absence.

If you need to delete an absence after the cut-off time on the day of the absence, contact the school directly.

Explaining an Absence

If your student is marked absent and you have not reported the absence in advance, you will be notiﬁed of the

absence. You can use the mobile apps or website to explain your student’s absence.

Manage PIN Settings

Parents/guardians may choose to require that a 4-digit Personal Identiﬁcation Number (PIN) be entered before

an absence can be reported or explained for individual students when using the SafeArrival phone system. This

provides an additional layer of security and also prevents students from reporting their own absences.

For parents/guardians who do not use the SchoolMessenger app, staff with access to the SchoolMessenger

Communicate Contacts page can manage the PIN settings.

Using the SchoolMessenger app website, parents click the Manage your PIN settings link at the bottom of the

Attendance page.

On the SafeArrival PIN Settings screen, the parent can choose the district in which the student is enrolled (if the

parent has students enrolled in more than 1 district). The parent will see a list of his/her students and will be

able to tap the checkbox to request that a PIN be required for when reporting and explaining absences for this

student by phone. A 4-digit PIN can then be entered.

1. Click the “eye” icon to see the PIN. Tap the PIN to

modify the it.

2. Click Save to save any changes.

This screen will be slightly different for Districts who do

not use the Guardian Data Model. In that case, a separate

PIN is required for each STUDENT.

Questions?

If you have any questions regarding the above, please

contact your school or district.

Feel free to forward app inquiries or feedback to the following:

appfeedback@schoolmessenger.com