Our Notify tool allows for sending district and school-wide notifications. Please remember, these messages will only go out to preferred contacts. Here's how to use it.
You can watch a video tutorial here or you can keep scrolling for step by step instructions.
Creating a New Message
To start a new message, click the Message Center from your left menu. Don't see the Message Center? Click here for more info.
Then select New Message.
Select your recipients. You can choose one school, multiple schools, the entire district (if you have that access level), or a specific grade level. Click Next.
Choose which kind of message it is: Non-Emergency or Emergency.
Emergency Messages are only available to district level personal and should only be used for notifications that require immediate parental notice, ie. School Closings, Lockdowns, etc. Parents will receive these notifications within 1-2 seconds of sending these messages. Read more about Emergency Messages here.
Parents can opt-out of Non-Emergency Messages. These will still be delivered immediately, but parents can decide if they want to know or not about events, school functions, chicken biscuit sales, etc.
Choose how the message will be delivered. Type your message in the composition box. If you've chosen email as an option, give your email a Subject. If you've chosen Call, record your message from your computer's microphone. Note, you can choose all three. Then click Next.
Then choose when to send the message. Send immediately or schedule for a later date or time. Click Next.
Now you'll see a confirmation box to ensure all your details are correct before you send the message. Click Send Message when you're ready or Go Back to edit something.
Viewing Message Stats
To view your message delivery stats, click Message Center. Then click anywhere on the message to see the specific stats.
Use the toggles to refine your results.
Choose Emergency or Non-emergency in Notify
Notify messages sent from the district or school level can be classified as either emergency or non-emergency. Which should you choose in order to get the best delivery rates? Here's your guide.
Emergency Messages
Reserved for urgent messages only!
Hopefully, this is a message type you won't have to send frequently. Examples of emergency messages are imminent bad weather, immediate school closing, active shooter, or active shooter drills.
We want to ensure emergency school district messages are sent with the utmost urgency, so we've notified the major cell phone carriers that our short code 939393 will be used ONLY for school emergencies. This ensures messages are sent as quickly as possible, without delay (in a matter of seconds).
NOTE: There is NO opt-out option for emergency messages.
Non-Emergency Messages
Hopefully, the majority of your mass messages will be non-emergencies. Examples include announcements for pep rallies, PTO meetings, free dress days, special calendar events, report cards, sporting events, spirit week, etc.
These messages are sent via a long code (for example 601-555-1234). Each district using Notify will have a pool of numbers from which messages will send. This ensures messages are less likely to be marked as 'spam' from the cell carriers. Messages are sent within a matter of minutes to hours, rather than seconds. (Example: a message sent to 60,000 recipients can take up to 180 minutes. Most messages will be delivered in a matter of minutes.)
NOTE: Recipients can opt-out of non-emergency messages.
Messaging Staff with Notify
To send a message to staff only, simply select Staff, select to send to all schools, or click the drop-down to select individual schools, because you are messaging Staff, you will not select a grade. Click Next. *Please note - Under Recipients, you will need to un-check Contacts when messaging staff only!
Now, Compose, Schedule, and Confirm your message! Select if your message is Non-Emergency or Emergency, how your recipients will receive your message (Text, Email, or Call), type your message, and click Next.
You can schedule the message to be sent on a specific date and time or Send Immediately, then click Next.
After you confirm that your message is ready, click Send Message.
Click here to return to the main menu - or ask for help!