The Messaging features in brightwheel allow admins, managers, and staff to send various types of messages, whether sent from the mobile app or online. These different message types allow teachers and staff to communicate more effectively with parents by conveying urgency or bolding important reminders. Each of these can be used to communicate with an individual student's parent, a whole room, or the entire program. 

A simple message is the default when drafting a new message to send to parents. This is easily comparable to a text message or any other instant messaging platform. This will likely be the most commonly used type to communicate with parents. It can be used for easy parent-to-teacher communication, as well as parent to administrator/manager.

Reminders allow the staff member creating the message to set a date and time that will appear in bold at the beginning of a message to help draw attention. These messages will show with a bell icon. Be aware, that the reminder will be sent immediately, with the set date and time in bold at the beginning of the message. These currently cannot be set up to be sent in the future. 

Message alerts enable staff, administrators, and managers to send an SMS text message in addition to an in-app message, these messages will display a megaphone icon. This is a great way to communicate with parents regarding an urgent matter. Please note that SMS messages will only be sent if the parent has an authenticated mobile number associated with their brightwheel account (US & Canada only) and SMS text messages have a 300-character limit.

Announcements allow administrators and managers to message entire room(s) at once. The message types will be the same as the ones listed above but with a greater reach. This feature is located in the messaging platform on the web or by choosing Message Rooms on the mobile app within the Administrator Dashboard. 

Newsletters are a great way to engage and communicate with parents in a long-form manner with text and pictures. They can be created by any teacher or administrator on the web. 

Parent contacts are able to view, respond to, and initiate messages to staff or admins/managers directly. Parents messaging staff assigned to their child's room(s) will have the option to choose from various message types, such as General, Late Drop Off, Late Pick Up, Early Pick Up, and Absent to streamline communication. Choosing any option other than General will bold the subject line to indicate the type of message being received.

Parents messaging admins/managers directly will not have the option to change the message type and it will instead default to 'General'.