Information Technology: ParentSquare

ParentSquare is a communication platform designed to bridge the gap between schools and families. It serves as a centralized hub for parents, teachers, and administrators to effortlessly exchange messages, share important updates, and collaborate on various aspects of a student's educational journey. With features such as announcements, event scheduling, volunteer sign-ups, and more, ParentSquare streamlines communication, fosters parent engagement, and enhances the overall school experience for everyone involved.

Parents & Guardians

ParentSquare Overview - English ParentSquare Resumen - Español

Activate Account

Your child(ren)'s school has your email and/or phone number in their records and they will initiate the setup process with you. They will send you an invitation email and/or text with a link to activate your ParentSquare account.

1. From your email, click the button, Activate your account.
Email invitation example:

2. Or, from your text message, click the Register link.
Text invitation example:

3. Register by entering your Email or Phone Number, then click Get Started.

Click the button Sign in with Google or Sign in with Microsoft.
Use your sign in credentials and password that you use for Google or Microsoft.

Download ParentSquare App

The ParentSquare app is available in both iOS or Android stores. Downloading the mobile app is the easiest way to receive all Posts, Events, Sign Up Requests, Photos and Files.

iOS App - Apple Store
Android App - Google Play Store

ParentSquare App Video - English ParentSquare App Video - Español

How to Combine/Merge Accounts

Ways to Combine Accounts

You can combine your multiple accounts in ParentSquare. Cases where combining accounts makes sense include:

User is a staff member and parent: combine staff account with personal parent account to access both with one login. All emails and phone numbers remain associated. Note: Staff must sign in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.
Parents share an email or home phone: their accounts will automatically link if they are listed with shared contact information.
User is missing a student or school from their main account: they have a second account for student or school that can be merged.

There are 4 ways to combine accounts:

From an invitation email
When verifying contacts
By using My Accounts
- Mobile App
By requesting your password to be reset

Email Invite

USE LINK ON EMAIL INVITATION

Click link in email, Sign in to Combine Existing Account
Sign in to your other ParentSquare account.
Select name to use on your account and click Combine Accounts.
Your accounts are now combined. The next time you log in to ParentSquare, you can access your account using any* of the associated emails or phone numbers on your combined account.

Verifying Contacts

COMBINE ACCOUNTS WHEN VERIFYING CONTACTS

Web Browser

If you have more than one contact card, and click Yes, Merge This Contact on each card, your contacts will automatically be merged into one account. ParentSquare allows a user to have multiple emails and phones.

ParentSquare Mobile App

If you have more than one contact card, and tap Yes, Merge This Contact on each card, your contacts will automatically be merged into one account. ParentSquare allows a user to have multiple emails and phones.

My Accounts

USE MY ACCOUNTS

Web Browser
1. Log in to your main ParentSquare account.
2. Click your name in upper right and select My Account.
3. Click Combine with another account.
4. If there are any accounts matching your verified email(s) or phone(s), a page with recommended users will appear.
  a. Click Combine Accounts, confirm any additional contacts on the account, and click Combine Accounts.
  b. If you do not see the account you want to combine, click combine another account.
5. Log in to your other ParentSquare account.
6. Select name to use on your account and click Combine Accounts.
7. Your accounts are now combined. The next time you login to ParentSquare, you will be able to access your account using any* of the associated email addresses or phone numbers on your combined account. *Note: Staff must sign in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.

PARENTSQUARE MOBILE APP

Log in to your main ParentSquare account. Note: Staff must log in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.
Tap menu in upper left, select Account then Combine Accounts.
Sign in to your other ParentSquare account.
Select name to use on your account and click Combine Accounts.
Your accounts are now combined. The next time you login to ParentSquare, you will be able to access your account using any* of the associated email addresses or phone numbers on your combined account.

Reset Password

REQUEST PASSWORD RESET

Web Browser
1. From the ParentSquare sign in page, http://www.parentsquare.com/signin click Forgot Password under the Password field.
2. Enter the email or phone number you think is on both accounts and click Go.
3. If you entered a cell phone number, you will receive directions to reset your password via text.
  If you entered an email address, you will receive an email from ParentSquare.
  Click Reset your password.
4. Select the account for which you would like to update the password, click Update Password.

PARENTSQUARE MOBILE APP

On the sign in page (when signed out of the app) enter the email or phone number you think is on both accounts.
Tap Continue.
Tap Forgot Password
Enter verification code sent to your email or phone.
Select the account for which you would like to update the password.
Follow the instructions to reset your password.

Set Notification Preferences

Overview of Notifications

Users can fine-tune their notification settings for posts for each school and district. For General Announcements, you can select Digest, Instant, or choose to turn off notifications altogether (excluding emergency alerts and notices.) You can choose to receive email, text, and/or app notifications.

A secondary parent/guardian contact may want to turn off all notifications except for emergency alerts (This is particularly useful if their partner parent/guardian manages school-related daily activities).

ParentSquare allows users to customize their notifications by notification type and select their preferred delivery method for each school and district.

You can set the frequency of notifications for posts. The Instant setting will send all post notifications in real time. The Digest setting sends direct messages, alerts, and time-sensitive posts instantly, but sends all non-time-sensitive posts at the end of the day, reducing the number of notifications you receive daily. Note: we recommend the Digest setting.

Notification types include:

Urgent Smart Alerts & Notices - urgent alerts, attendance notices, and auto notices marked as critical notices (cannot be disabled).
General Announcements & Messages - posts, direct messages and reminders.
School Alerts - smart alerts and other student notices.

Under General Announcements, you can select how often you want to receive notifications for posts. Select Off, Instant or Digest notifications.

Off: no notifications about posts will be sent to you. Emergency Alerts and Notices will still be sent. School Alerts will still be sent if turned on.
Instant: you'll receive an email and/or text and/or an app notification every time a notice or message is sent.
Digest: you'll receive an email and/or text and/or an app notification once a day in the evening with all posts from that day.

The default setting is typically Digest, so that you receive all notices and post messages in one convenient notification once a day. All emergency notifications still come through instantly, and a school can override settings as needed for an urgent message. If you choose Instant notifications, and have multiple children in multiple schools, that can add up to a lot of messages.

Web Browser
Mobile App

Web Browser

Update your Notification Settings (using web browser)

From Home, click your name and select My Account.
Click Notification Settings.
Choose your preferred Notification Settings for General Announcements & Messages (Off, Instant or Digest) and School Alerts (On or Off). Once you've made selections, future messaging will send based on your preferences.

Note: you cannot turn off Urgent Alerts & Notices; this includes attendance notices.
If you have multiple emails or phones listed on your account, set the order of your preferred contacts to receive notifications. Notifications will only be sent to one email and one phone on your account.

Note: the “Choose Best Match” setting will select the most relevant email and phone to send the notification to. Notifications related to the student/parent will go to the personal email/phone, while notifications intended for staff only will always go to the staff email/phone. Posts sent to both staff and parents will default to the parent email/phone. If "Digest" is selected and there is at least one notification in the Digest that includes parents, the digest will be sent to the parent email.

Mobile App

Update your Notification Setting (using mobile app)

From home screen tap the triple bar menu at top left.
Select Account and then Notifications.

3. Select how you want to be notified at each school.
- Turn OFF Custom Settings to use the same notification settings for all schools.
- Turn ON Custom Settings to set different notifications at each school.

4. Toggle on or off to receive Email, Text and/or App Notifications.

5. Select Instant or Digest for each mode. Note: Digest is recommended – you will receive one notification per day, for all posts, in the evening.

Note: In order to receive app notifications on your phone, be sure they are enabled in your phone settings.

Notification Troubleshooting

Parents should be seeing all of their children in one ParentSquare account and should be receiving notifications.

ParentSquare gets data from the schools. Most schools put their data in a Student Information System (SIS) such as Aeries or PowerSchool. ParentSquare syncs nightly with the SIS. Changes to parent names and contact information should be made in the SIS. ParentSquare will show those changes after the nightly sync.

Data tip: Parents/guardians can share an email or phone number. Children using StudentSquare should use their own email and/or phone number if they have one.
Sign in tip: Parents can sign into ParentSquare on a computer web browser using their email or cell phone number. You can be on your computer and sign in with your cell phone number!
Notifications tip: Add the following to your contacts to prevent calls and emails from being marked as spam or junk:
- - email donotreply*@parentsquare.com
  - the school phone number
  - the numbers 60710, 66458, 87366 & 36794 (add them as additional phone numbers. These are the numbers that ParentSquare texts will come from)

Parents

If you can't sign into ParentSquare with your email or phone number, please contact your child's school.

If you can sign in, please follow these steps:

Check your email and phone number in ParentSquare. Click on your name in the top right and click My Account. If corrections need to be made, please contact your child's school with the correct information.
Check your Notification Preferences on My Account page. Are your notification preferences on?
Check your spam folder for emails from donotreply@parentsquare.com.
Add the domain ParentSquare.com or the email address donotreply@parentsquare.com to the safe senders list in your email client (Gmail, Yahoo, aol, etc.) You can search online how to do this. If using Gmail:
- Go to Settings.
- At the bottom of the pane, click Mail.
- In the left pane, select Mail > Accounts > Block or allow.
- Under Blocked Senders, select the address or domain you want to unblock, and then select.
Text the word START to 66458. This will resume text messaging to your phone.

Parent Dashboard

When a parent logs into ParentSquare, they can view their children easily. Parents will see all children associated with their ParentSquare account even if their child is at another school site or district (if all schools/districts use ParentSquare).

Children:

In the upper left, see a quick view of your children, with grade level and school.

Posts:

From Home, select Posts in the left sidebar. Here you can view all the posts that pertain to your student(s).

Messages:

From Home, select Messages in the left sidebar. Here you can view any messages from teachers or staff.
Parents can send a message to a teacher or staff member if you have a question.
1. Click New Message to start your message.

Note: This feature is optional and may be turned off by your school administration.

2. To enter Recipients, type the first few letters of the staff member's name.
- OR, use Quick Select Recipients to select your child's teacher from a list.
3. Type your message and click Send.

Classes:

Select a student from the top left. Here you'll see the Classes section which allows parents to view their child's classes.

Parent Dashboard on Mobile App

Children

In the upper left, view your children, along with their school and grade level.

Posts

The "Posts" tab allows you to view all the posts that pertain to each child.

Messages

The "Messages" tab allows you to view messages from teachers or staff.
Parents can send a message to a teacher or staff member if you have a question. Tap the plus symbol in the top right corner. To start your message select Message.

Under recipients, type the name of the staff member you want to contact. Under "Quick Select Recipients" select your child's teacher. Type your message and tap Send.

.

Classes

The "Classes" tab allows you to view your child's classes.

.

Change your Password or Sign Out

Tap the triple bar menu at top left, then Account.
Options:
- Tap Change Password and follow the prompts.
- Tap Sign Out.

Language Settings

ParentSquare allows you to change your language setting to receive posts, messages and other communications in your preferred language. Note: Student language (if StudentSquare enabled) is always set to English and can only be changed by admin.

Web Browser
Mobile App

Web Browser

Using a Website Browser

From Home, click the down arrow next to your name, in the upper right.
Select My Account.
Click on Language Settings in the left hand sidebar.
Select your preferred language from the drop down menu and click Save.

Change Menus to Spanish

To change the application menus to Spanish, click Español in the top menu bar. (To change back, click Ingles.) Note: Spanish and English are the only languages available for the application menus.

⬇️

Mobile App

Using the Mobile App

Follow the steps below to change the language for Posts and Messages sent to you.

From Home, tap the triple bars (menu) in the upper left.
Select Account, then Preferences.
From the Preferences screen select Language.
Choose your preferred language. You will receive all post messages in your preferred language.

Change Language Used by the App

To see how to change the language in the App (UI) and menus, visit:
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204031 for iOS
- https://www.androidcentral.com/how-change-system-language-your-android-phone for Android

Submit an Attendance Note

This section provides instructions on how to submit a note on ParentSquare if you have received a notification. If you have not, please contact your school office to discuss the absence.

Parents and Guardians can view Attendance Notices on their app or web site and can submit notes back to the school. This feature is only available if your school has Attendance Notes enabled.

Click Send Note to School.
Enter the reason for the absence and click Submit.
The note will be sent immediately to the school's attendance office.

Complete an Online/Permission Slip Form

Once a form is posted, parents will receive an email, text or app notification to complete the form. Parents can only respond to forms if they are signed into ParentSquare through a computer's web browser, mobile web browser, or the app. Parents can then answer the required questions and complete the online form or permission slip with an electronic signature.

Web Browser
Mobile App

Web Browser

How to Complete a Form from a Web Browser

Log into ParentSquare. Parents can use a phone number to sign into ParentSquare on a web browser.
Find the post with the form.
Click Complete Form and fill out the form.
If your form has the option to select your child, select your child from the drop-down menu under Student Name.
Answer any additional questions. The screenshot below is just an example. You may not see this wording on your form.
Click Save, unless your form requires a signature.
If your form requires a signature, click Review and Sign. Not all forms have this.
The consent form opens; review and click Sign Document.
Type your full name under Electronic Signature. Your name MUST be typed exactly as it appears in ParentSquare. Click I Approve.
If you need to complete another form or permission slip for another child, click Complete another form.

Mobile App

How to Complete a Form on the Mobile App

Log into the ParentSquare App and tap on the post with the form.
Tap Forms.
If you see, Who is this form for? enter the name of your child.
Fill out the form.
Tap Save, unless your form requires a signature.
If your form requires a signature, tap Review and Sign. Not all forms have this.
The consent form will open; review and tap Sign Document.
Type your full name under Electronic Signature. Your name MUST be typed exactly as it appears in ParentSquare. Tap I Approve.
If you need to complete another form/permission slip for another child, tap Complete another form.

Staff

How to Combine/Merge Accounts

How to Combine/Merge Accounts

Ways to Combine Accounts

You can combine your multiple accounts in ParentSquare. Cases where combining accounts makes sense include:

User is a staff member and parent: combine staff account with personal parent account to access both with one login. All emails and phone numbers remain associated. Note: Staff must sign in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.
Parents share an email or home phone: their accounts will automatically link if they are listed with shared contact information.
User is missing a student or school from their main account: they have a second account for student or school that can be merged.

There are 4 ways to combine accounts:

From an invitation email
When verifying contacts
By using My Accounts
- Mobile App
By requesting your password to be reset

Email Invite

USE LINK ON EMAIL INVITATION

Click link in email, Sign in to Combine Existing Account
Sign in to your other ParentSquare account.
Select name to use on your account and click Combine Accounts.
Your accounts are now combined. The next time you log in to ParentSquare, you can access your account using any* of the associated emails or phone numbers on your combined account.

Verifying Contacts

COMBINE ACCOUNTS WHEN VERIFYING CONTACTS

Web Browser

ParentSquare Mobile App

If you have more than one contact card, and tap Yes, Merge This Contact on each card, your contacts will automatically be merged into one account. ParentSquare allows a user to have multiple emails and phones.

My Accounts

USE MY ACCOUNTS

Web Browser
1. Log in to your main ParentSquare account.
2. Click your name in upper right and select My Account.
3. Click Combine with another account.
4. If there are any accounts matching your verified email(s) or phone(s), a page with recommended users will appear.
  a. Click Combine Accounts, confirm any additional contacts on the account, and click Combine Accounts.
  b. If you do not see the account you want to combine, click combine another account.
5. Log in to your other ParentSquare account.
6. Select name to use on your account and click Combine Accounts.
7. Your accounts are now combined. The next time you login to ParentSquare, you will be able to access your account using any* of the associated email addresses or phone numbers on your combined account. *Note: Staff must sign in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.

PARENTSQUARE MOBILE APP

Log in to your main ParentSquare account. Note: Staff must log in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.
Tap menu in upper left, select Account then Combine Accounts.
Sign in to your other ParentSquare account.
Select name to use on your account and click Combine Accounts.
Your accounts are now combined. The next time you login to ParentSquare, you will be able to access your account using any* of the associated email addresses or phone numbers on your combined account.

Reset Password

REQUEST PASSWORD RESET

Web Browser
1. From the ParentSquare sign in page, http://www.parentsquare.com/signin click Forgot Password under the Password field.
2. Enter the email or phone number you think is on both accounts and click Go.
3. If you entered a cell phone number, you will receive directions to reset your password via text.
  If you entered an email address, you will receive an email from ParentSquare.
  Click Reset your password.
4. Select the account for which you would like to update the password, click Update Password.

PARENTSQUARE MOBILE APP

On the sign in page (when signed out of the app) enter the email or phone number you think is on both accounts.
Tap Continue.
Tap Forgot Password
Enter verification code sent to your email or phone.
Select the account for which you would like to update the password.
Follow the instructions to reset your password.

Students

Learn to use StudentSquare

Download StudentSquare App

Download the FREE StudentSquare app for iOS or Android. This is the easiest way for Students to receive all Posts, Events, Sign Up Requests, Photos and Files. Students can enable text notifications when a message is posted.

iOS App - iOS App Store

Android App - Google Play Store

Use the camera on your phone to scan these QR codes - it takes you directly to the App or Google Play store.

StudentSquare - Activate Account

Email Invite
School Code

Email Invite

School Code

Open the link your school provided and enter your Student ID and your email address or phone number for receiving text notifications. Click Sign Up.
Check your email/phone and click the Confirm your account button in the email body or the text link sent to your phone.
Create a password and confirm it by entering it in both boxes.
Click Register.
Click Confirm and a verification code will be sent to your email or phone.
Enter the verification code received.
Click Confirm.
Click Yes, This is Me.

StudentSquare - How to Login

Web Browser
Mobile App

Web Browser

Mobile App

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Contact Us

Monday to Friday

Office Hours: 7:00 AM - 3:30 PM

Phone: (760) 726-2170 ext. 92500

Email: servicedesk@vistausd.org

Vista Unified School District

Business Services Department
Information Technology Division

4680 North Ave

Oceanside, CA 92056

Our Leadership Team

Brian Schwerdtfeger
Director of Information Technology (TOC)
(760) 726-2170 ext. 92502
Email: brianschwerdtgeger@vistausd.org

Lizbeth Mendoza

Staff Secretary, Assistant

(760) 726-2170 ext. 92502

Service Desk

Brenna Blomquist

Christen Lorber

Service Desk Technicians

(760) 726-2170 ext. 92500

Departmental Oversight

Shawn T. Loescher, Ed.D.
Asst. Superintendent (Interim)
Chief Operations Officer/
Chief Business Officer
(760) 726-2170 ext. 92302
Email: shawnloescher@vistausd.org

Berenice Guzman
Administrative Secretary I (Confidential)
(760) 726-2170 ext. 92302
Email: bereniceguzman@vistausd.org

Last Updated: August 23, 2024

Information Technology: ParentSquare

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Related Committees

Contact Us

Our Leadership Team

Service Desk