The SchoolMessenger App and SafeArrival

This section contains an overview of the SchoolMessenger app (mobile apps and website) that can be used by parents/guardians to report absences.

IMPORTANT: The SchoolMessenger app uses the email addresses that are provided to SchoolMessenger from your student information system to determine which students will be shown in the parent’s account. If you have not received instructions from your district administrator regarding the fields from which email addresses are transferred (and under which conditions), please contact your district administrator to find out.  

Note: Email addresses are usually transferred to SchoolMessenger overnight. If you make changes, ask parents to wait until the next day to try the app again.

Parents/guardians can Sign Up for the SchoolMessenger app using any of these methods:

·         Web

·        Mobile App

To Sign Up for a SchoolMessenger app account, parents/guardians must choose the Sign Up option then provide an email address and a password.

·        Parents/guardians are instructed to sign up using the email address their child’s school has on record. Please note that the email addresses that are transferred to SchoolMessenger come from specific fields in your student information system. If you have not received instructions from your district administrator regarding the fields from which email addresses are transferred (and under which conditions), please contact your district administrator to find out.  

Note: Email addresses are usually transferred to SchoolMessenger overnight. If you make changes, ask parents to wait until the next day to try the app again.

If parents/guardians sign up using an email address that has NOT been transferred to SchoolMessenger, they will encounter one of the following issues:

·        When they log in for the first time, they will see a message advising them that their email address is not associated with any SchoolMessenger-enabled records. They will be instructed to contact the school to have their email address added to the school records. If you have not received instructions from your district administrator regarding the fields from which email addresses are transferred (and under which conditions), please contact your district administrator to find out

Note: Email addresses are usually transferred to SchoolMessenger overnight. If you make changes, ask parents to wait until the next day to try the app again.

·        If the email address has been transferred to SchoolMessenger for some but not all of their children, when they try to report an absence, one or more of their children may be missing from the list of their children. This means that the email address they signed up with is in the correct place for one or more of their students, but not for other(s). You’ll need to know exactly where to add the email for the missing student(s). If you have not received instructions from your district administrator regarding the fields from which email addresses are transferred (and under which conditions), please contact your district administrator to find out.

Once parents/guardians have signed up for an account, the same email address and password will work for the web and mobile apps.

When parents/guardians login to the app, they can do the following:

Student Absences

·        Select the ATTENDANCE menu option from the main menu.

·        The ATTENDANCE screen shows student absences.

·        Student absences can be viewed in Calendar view (click the Calendar icon ) or in List view (click the List icon ).

 Report an Absence

·        To report an absence, select the “REPORT AN ABSENCE +” icon.

Explain an Absence

·        When there are absences to be explained, they will be highlighted in red. Select the absence then explain it by selecting entries from the drop-down lists, calendar and time selectors, then select Send.

Edit/Delete an Absence

·        Reported absences that will occur in the future can be edited or deleted. Select the absence then Edit or Delete as needed.

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.

 

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