Adding Guardians to Connect: Contact Info Setup and Delivery Troubleshooting

Adding guardians and their contact info

Guardians (parents/contacts) are added to SchoolStatus Connect by supplying an email address, a cell phone number, or both. As soon as a guardian is added, they start receiving communications sent through Connect such as Announcements, conversations, and so on, even before they've completed their profile.

• Guardians can be added using their email address, cell phone number, or both. SMS is currently available in the US only.
• If you want a guardian account to have both an email address and a phone number, make sure you add both contact methods to the same guardian record, not create two separate guardian accounts for the same student.
• To add both contact methods: enter one contact method first (email or phone). Once it's saved, "+ Add phone" or "+ Add email" will appear under the contact info you just entered; use that to add the second method to the same guardian.
• If a guardian has both an email and a phone number on file, which channel they're notified through by default is determined by your district's settings.

Adding a guardian vs. sending an Invitation: Adding a guardian's contact info is enough for them to start receiving communications right away; accepting an invitation or confirming a contact method is not required. 

Separately, you can also send them an Invitation: a one-time notification that prompts them to click a link and complete their profile. Sending an Invitation isn't required for them to receive communications; it's just a way to get them set up and engaged sooner, rather than waiting for the first announcement or message to reach them. Learn how to send an Invitation.

To set up your own notification preferences, head to your account settings and look for Personal Preferences.

How Connect handles delivery issues

Once a guardian's contact info is on file, Connect automatically works around delivery issues for you when a message doesn't go through.

Invitations sent through every method: When a guardian is added to Connect, the invitation you send them goes out through every contact method on file — email and SMS both, if both are present — so anyone who hasn't logged in yet gets reached however possible.

Fallback between channels: If a notification isn't successfully delivered through a guardian's preferred channel, Connect automatically sends future notifications through the alternative channel instead. For example, if a guardian's email inbox is full and the email fails to deliver, Connect will send future notifications by SMS instead. Once the underlying issue is resolved and the guardian's email status is reset, either by the guardian or by Connect Support, Connect reverts to sending communications through the preferred channel (email) going forward.

Shared phone numbers: When multiple guardians share the same phone number, Connect adds an identifier at the beginning of the SMS (e.g., "(For [Recipient Name])") so each recipient can tell who the message is intended for.