ParentSquare

There are two ways to activate your account:

1. By Invitation: Look for an invitation in your email or as a text message with a link to activate your ParentSquare account. These are typically sent out in late August each year.
2. By Email or Phone: You activate your account by using the email or the phone number you have on file with your child's school (through ParentVUE). Go to ParentSquare.com and use the "Register" box on the right, then click "Get Started." 

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. (Students in grades 6-12 should download the StudentSquare app.)

• ParentSquare: App Store or Google Play
• StudentSquare: App Store or Google Play

By default, all messages will be sent to you in a digest at 6 p.m. You can change your notification settings to receive messages when they are sent (emergency alerts will always be sent immediately).  Once you are logged in to ParentSquare, click on your name and choose My Account, then Notification Settings. From here, you can choose if you'd like email alerts, text alerts and app alerts in one of three ways: 

• Off (not recommended)
• Instant
• Digest

Instant means that you will receive information as it is sent. For example, if your child's teacher sends an email at 2 p.m. you will receive it at 2 p.m.

Digest mode gives you the option to receive all your communications at 6 p.m. each day, instead of as they are sent. 

Last spring, we asked you about your preferences when it comes to communication from teachers, schools and the District. We received survey responses from 837 parents/guardians, 209 secondary students and 208 staff members! Here are a few things we learned:

• Families want consistency. It is confusing when different teachers or schools use different platforms to communicate. At the same time, staff reported using more than 14 different communication tools to reach students and families because no single tool could do all the things they needed it to do.
• Many families felt left out because they are not on social media or don’t check it frequently enough to receive timely information. Only 60% of secondary families and 65% of elementary families indicated that they follow the school or district on social media.
• 72% of families indicated that having one place where they could access all the information they receive was important or extremely important, and 70% of families indicated that they preferred a smartphone app for this.

Posts and Messages are the two main ways that your child's teachers, coaches and school will communicate with you.

• Posts will include important information from your child's teachers and school and are usually sent to large groups of people, like a class, grade level or entire school. With a post, teachers and staff members can share updates, send newsletters, ask families to sign up for things like conferences and volunteer opportunities, as well as share images or files. 
• Messages are used for private or small-group communication. Regardless of your notification settings, you will always receive messages instantly. If you have texts turned on, you will receive messages directly to your phone as a text, and you can reply directly within the text chain. Otherwise, you can access your messages to read and respond through the App, or receive them as an email and view them through a browser.
• Groups are a separate place where communication can be sent to specific members of a group, such as an athletics team, school club or group of students. Posts and updates can be sent to your group by the group owners/admins (most likely the coach, advisor or staff member in charge of the club or activity). 

No. Downloading the ParentSquare App is not required, although it is the easiest way to receive and find information all in one place. If you don't download the app, you will still receive communication the same way you do now - through your email, as text messages or as robocalls.

Tip: If you choose to download the ParentSquare App, you may want to update your Notification Settings (in My Account) to turn off texts, and turn on App notifications. This way, you'll only receive alerts on your phone once (through the App) instead of twice, through the App and via text. 

You don't need to do anything! While the ParentSquare portal and App are great ways for families to view all of the teachers, school and district communications, if you choose not to activate your ParentSquare account, you will still receive emails, calls and texts as you do now.

ParentSquare uses contact information from ParentVUE (and StudentVUE for students in grades 6-12) to send emails, robocalls and text messages. Take a minute now to ensure your contact information in is up-to-date in ParentVUE and StudentVUE.