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.

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:

1. 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.
2. Check your Notification Preferences on My Account page. Are your notification preferences on?
3. Check your spam folder for emails from donotreply@parentsquare.com.
4. 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.
5. Text the word START to 66458. This will resume text messaging to your phone.

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. 
   

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, 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.
   

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.

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.

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

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.