brightwheel's messaging features offers a streamlined, all-in-one solution for communicating with families and staff! Providers and parents can message each other and reply to coordinate care, share updates, discuss billing topics and more.
How messaging works
Each child has two dedicated messaging threads:
Admin only: Only visible to admins and any parents listed on the child's profile. All admins & managers can respond within this thread.
Teacher & admin: Includes both admins and teachers assigned to the child's classroom(s). Teachers can reply and receive notifications when families send messages.
In addition, teachers can communicate with teammates and admins through room group threads. Each classroom has its own thread, accessible to all staff assigned to that room for collaboration.
For sensitive matters such as payroll, scheduling, etc. admins can send direct private messages to individual teachers or other admins.
Note: Teachers do not have direct messaging with each other.
Who can view messages
Admins | Can view all messages sent and received across brightwheel, except private threads between an individual admin and staff member. |
Staff | With permission, can view messages for students in their assigned rooms and receive messages from any admin.
Note: Admins can control whether staff ha.ve permissions to message families. For details, see Staff permissions overview. |
Parents | Can send and receive messages with any admin or teachers in their child’s room(s) |
Family contacts | Can send messages (e.g., to notify of late pick-up), but cannot receive messages to reserve sensitive topics for parents/guardians |
Key features of brightwheel messaging
Staff ↔ Parent messaging | Teachers and staff can message the parents of any child assigned to their classroom(s).
Parents can message and reply to teachers and staff to share updates such as late drop-off, early pick-up, late pick-up, or absences. Learn more about the family experience here. | |
Private Messages: Admins ↔ Parents | Admins can send direct messages to parents not visible to other non-admin staff for more sensitive topics. | |
Private Messages: Admins ↔ Teachers | Admins can send direct messages to teachers not visible to other non-admin staff for more sensitive topics. |
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Room-wide announcements
| Admins can broadcast announcements to an entire classroom, sharing important updates like weekly events, closures, etc. | |
Newsletters
| Newsletters can be created by any teacher or admin as a structured way to communicate regularly with families. |
How messaging prospective families works
When administrators or teachers message a student's contact, it's crucial to consider the student's enrollment status.
You can message current students with an enrollment status of Active and room assignments from the main Messaging page. However, if the student is not yet Active at your center, you'll need to initiate messages with them from your Admissions Dashboard.
ℹ️ Please visit Send messages for prospective students to learn more.
FAQs
As a program director, can I see all messages?
As a program director, can I see all messages?
Yes, administrators and managers are granted access to a convenient admin messaging panel to view all the conversations happening throughout their organization, so there's no need to navigate to individual rooms to gain insight!
You can view all and any messages sent between staff, except direct messages between specific admin and staff.
Can I limit staff messaging with families?
Can I limit staff messaging with families?
Yes, you can limit staff messaging by assigning the role Staff Without Parent Messaging. This prevents staff from messaging parents but allows them to message other staff.
Can parents message other parents?
Can parents message other parents?
Currently, parents cannot message each other directly in brightwheel. However, if you enable the Parent Directory, parents will be able to see each other’s phone numbers and email addresses to connect outside of the app.