Brightwheel understands the importance of communicating with staff easily and that's why the Messaging feature is designed to centralize communication for staff and admins! This feature provides convenient one-on-one communication between administrators and staff, but also group staff messages where administrators can send group messages based on staff room assignments.

🚩 It's important to note that removing a staff member will delete direct messages sent between the removed staff and admin. Messages sent to families, or group staff messages will remain.

You can reactivate the staff member to recover those admin/staff messages. Check out our Add Staff Members help center resource for more details.

Administrator to Staff Messaging

Messaging between administrators and staff is very similar to messaging with parents. In this case, administrators can message any staff member within brightwheel and Staff can message any administrator. Staff can message other Staff in a group room message, but are not able to message other staff members individually within brightwheel.

This provides a secure and convenient way of keeping up to date with staff in a single centralized location.

Administrator to Staff Messaging on Mobile	Administrator to Staff Messaging on the Web
Open the brightwheel app to the Administrator Home page Click the purple Messages tile at the top of the screen Tap the Speech Bubble in the top right-hand corner Tap Staff Tap Individuals Select the desired staff member(s) and tap Next Draft the message and tap Send Message	Click to open Messaging from the purple side menu Click + New Message Select Staff Select Individual Staff Use the dropdown option to navigate between rooms and select the desired staff member (s) Click Next Draft the message and click Send Message

💡 When messaging staff on the app - use the Talk-to-Text feature on your mobile device to speak your message. Click the 🎙️ icon next to the keyboard, and it will transcribe your speech to save time.

For more details, refer to these Apple and Android articles.

Group Staff Messages

Often, administrators need to communicate with all of the staff in a particular classroom. Brightwheel’s messaging functionality empowers administrators to communicate quickly and easily using the group messaging option. Once the thread has been started, any staff member or other administrators can navigate to the conversation to read and reply at any time. Messaging an entire classroom will notify all staff members assigned to that classroom.

Group Staff Messaging on the App	Group Staff Messaging on the Web
Open the brightwheel app to the Administrator Home page Click the purple Messages tile at the top of the screen Tap the Speech Bubble in the top right-hand corner Choose the Staff option Choose the Entire Room option Select the desired room(s) Tap Send Message to Room Draft the message and tap the Send Message	Click to open Messaging from the purple side menu Click + New Message Select Staff Select Entire Rooms Choose the desired room(s) and click Next Draft the message and click Send Message

💡 When sending group messages on the App - use the Talk-to-Text feature on your mobile device to speak your message. Click the 🎙️ icon next to the keyboard, and it will transcribe your speech to save time.

For more details, refer to these Apple and Android articles.

Viewing Staff Messages

Admins and Managers can view staff messages on the web or app. However, it's important to note that specific Admins or Managers will not be able to view individual Admin <> Staff threads unless they are a part of that thread.

You can also mark messages as read or unread!

Viewing on Mobile	Viewing on the Web
Open the brightwheel app to the Administrator Home page Click the purple Messages tile at the top of the screen Jump to the Staff tab Use the Order By drop-down to filter by Unread or Most Recent Use the search bar filter to enter a specific Room Name or Staff member and click Apply 💡To view all messages, don't enter anything here!	Click to open Messaging from the purple side menu Jump to the Staff tab Use the Order By drop-down to filter by Unread or Most Recent Use the search bar filter to enter a specific Room Name or Staff member and click Apply 💡To view all messages, don't enter anything here!

Staff Messaging & Replies

Staff and Lead Staff roles have the ability to respond in group and individual threads, and can also start new conversations with other admins. Staff cannot directly message other Staff or Lead Staff roles in brightwheel.

Staff Messaging on Mobile	Staff Messaging on the Web
Tap the Messages icon at the bottom of the screen Tap the Speech Bubble in the top right-hand corner Select Room Staff or Administrator (or respond directly in an existing thread) Select the desired room(s) or administrators and tap Next Draft the message and tap Send Message	Click to open Messaging from the purple side menu Click + New Message Select Room Staff or Administrator (or respond directly in an existing thread) Choose the desired room(s) or administrators and tap Next Draft the message and click Send Message

💡 When sending messages on the App - use the Talk-to-Text feature on your mobile device to speak your message. Click the 🎙️ icon next to the keyboard, and it will transcribe your speech to save time.

For more details, refer to these Apple and Android articles.

FAQ

How can I view messages for deleted staff?

When a staff member is removed, any direct messages sent between the staff member and an admin will not be accessible. Messages sent to families and within group staff room messages are still available for viewing within the thread they were initially sent. To access messages for deleted staff, navigate to the Messages section on the app and scroll through the student, or staff message thread to find the desired correspondence.

Administrator to Staff Messaging