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Contact Types: Parents, Family, Approved Pickups, and Emergency Contacts

Contact Types: Parents, Family, Approved Pickups, and Emergency Contacts

The differences and privileges for contacts listed for students. Learn how to best set up contact lists for your students.
Katie Talwar avatar
Written by Katie Talwar
Updated over a week ago

When adding contacts for students, you are given 4 options: Parent, Family, Approved Pickup, and Emergency Contact. Each one has slightly different functions and privileges:

Please Note: Emergency contacts do NOT have pickup privileges. In case of an emergency, they will be contacted, however only parents, family, and approved pickups may check a child out.

Contacts and Access

Note that each Contact Type has a different level of access to a student's profile and brightwheel features.  

Parents:  

  • Can see all updates in the Daily Feed

  • Can access all Billing and Payment information

  • Can add or remove other adults from the child's profile

  • Can edit child's profile information

  • Can message the school, and receive messages in an inbox/sent box that is shared between only Schools and Parents

Family

  • Can see all updates in the Daily Feed

  • Cannot access all Billing and Payment information

  • Cannot add or remove other adults from the child's profile

  • Cannot edit child's profile information

  • Can message the program on the app only

  • Cannot receive messages from the program

Approved Pickups

  • Can update their personal contact information and check-in code

  • Cannot see all updates in the Daily Feed

  • Cannot access all Billing and Payment information

  • Cannot add or remove other adults from the child's profile

  • Cannot edit child's profile information

  • Cannot send or receive messages

Emergency Contacts

  • Has no access to the child's profile within brightwheel.  This is simply a reference for contact information.

  • Is the only Contact Type that does not get an invitation to join brightwheel upon being added

FAQ's

Parent: "My child's school messaged me but I am unable to access messaging. Why?"
Common scenario! The school has likely entered them as a family/approved pick up contact instead of Parent. The school needs to delete them, then add again as parent.

Teacher: "I sent a parent an invoice and they said they do not see it."
Again, very common. Please make sure that they've been added as a parent and not family/approved pick up.

"Why am I unable to view the child's feed? I was added as an Emergency Contact recently."
Emergency contacts do have not have visibility into students' feeds or profiles.

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