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Administrator to Parent Messaging
Use brightwheel’s Messaging tool to easily send messages to parents individually or in bulk.
Sabrina avatar
Written by Sabrina. Updated over a week ago

The Messaging platform is a powerful tool for Administrators to send updates, reminders, alerts, and more to parents via brightwheel. Administrators can streamline parent communication by sending messages for individual students, multiple students, entire rooms of students, or all students in the program.

Messages sent through brightwheel will be delivered to all Parent contacts added to the student’s profile through their brightwheel account.

Table of Contents

Messaging Individual Parents

Admins and Managers have the option to send a message to individual parents and have the thread be viewable by all staff OR be viewable by only Admins and Managers.

Choosing to send a direct Admin/Manager <> Parent message can be a great option if there's a matter that should only be discussed between these parties without staff involved. Please be aware that this is not a direct message between a specific Admin/Manager and Parent Contacts, it will visible to all program Admins/Managers and all parent contacts associated with a student.

To better understand the parent experience for direct Admin/Manager <> Parent messages, view our Messaging the Childcare Provider resource.

Messaging on the Web

Similar to text messages or emails, while brightwheel messages can be deleted by Admins, they can’t be edited once they’re sent. With this in mind, please review the message content and recipients before sending to ensure completion and accuracy!

  1. Navigate to the Messaging page

  2. Click the + New Message button in the top right corner, and select Parents

  3. Choose whether to send the message to:

    1. Individual parent(s) (and visible by all staff)

    2. Individual parent(s) (and only visible by admins/managers)

    3. Entire Room(s)/Program

  4. Click on each student or room that should receive the message, and click on Next

  5. Select the desired Message Type
    Please Note: If choosing to send a message to an individual parent and have it viewable by only Admins/Managers, you will not be able to change the message Type

  6. Add an optional attachment

  7. Add the message content

  8. Review the message content and recipients, and click Send Message when complete

Messaging on the App

Similar to text messages or emails, while brightwheel messages can be deleted by Admins, they can’t be edited once they’re sent. With this in mind, please review the message content and recipients before sending to ensure completion and accuracy!

  1. Tap the purple Messages tile from the Administrator Home screen

  2. Tap the message bubble icon in the top right corner to compose a new message and select Parents

  3. Choose whether to send the message to:

    1. Individual parent(s) (and visible by all staff)

    2. Individual parent(s) (and only visible by admins/managers)
      Please Note: If this option is selected, the message thread will clearly indicate it at the top of the page

    3. Entire Room(s)/Program

  4. Click on each student or room that should receive the message, and click on Next

  5. Select the desired Message Type
    Please Note: If choosing to send a message to an individual parent and have it viewable by Admins/Managers only, you will not be able to change the message Type

  6. Add the message content

  7. Review the message content and recipients, and click Send Message when complete

Viewing Parent Messages

Easily view and filter all messages sent to parents at your program, whether they were sent to and viewable by all staff assigned to selected rooms, admins/managers only, or the entire program.

On the Web

  1. Log in to an Admin/Manager account on the web

  2. Navigate to the Messaging page

  3. From the Messages > Parents tab, use the available filters to view relevant Messages
    💡 Use the Recipient filter to view all Admin <> Parent threads, and do not set any filters to view ALL parent messages!

On the App

  1. Log in to an Admin/Manager account on the app

  2. Tap the purple Messages tile on the Administrator home screen

  3. On the Parents tab, view and filter messages as needed
    💡Use the Admin only toggle to view add Admin <> Parent threads or leave this option toggled off to view ALL parent messages!

Delete Messages

Administrators are able to delete messages on the web. Note that this action will only be available for administrators - Guardians (including Parent contacts), Staff, and Managers will not be able to delete messages.

Through the Messages tab on the web, Administrators are able to delete messages sent by any user - Administrators, Staff, Managers, Parents, and Family Members. Newsletters can also be deleted from a message thread.

  1. Navigate to the Messaging page on the web

  2. Jump to the Parents tab

  3. Use the available filters to narrow down results for the relevant messages
    💡 Use the Recipient filter to view Admin <> Parent or All staff <> Parent threads!

  4. Choose the message thread
    Please note: Messages can only be deleted in one thread at a time. If you need to delete a school-wide announcement, you'll need to delete thread by thread.

  5. Click Edit in the upper left corner of the message window

  6. Click the box next to the message(s) to delete

  7. Click Delete message

  8. In the pop-up window, select Yes, delete to confirm the deletion

Once deleted, the message thread will reload and display "[Admin Name] deleted this message," and that notice will be visible to anyone in the thread.

Please keep in mind that the action of deleting a message(s) is permanent, and the message cannot be recovered. If you use this option, ensure you've selected the correct message(s) to delete.

Learn more about our Messaging feature and the options available for your program in our Messaging Overview resource!

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