Staff - ParentSquare Information
ParentSquare Information for Staff
We’re making communication easier and more consistent for Huron City Schools and our community. As of July 1, 2025, ParentSquare will serve as the district’s primary communication platform, alongside the launch of our brand-new district website.
What to Expect?
ParentSquare is now the ONLY communication platform for district, building, classroom, group, and extracurricular (including athletics and activities) communication and updates. Apps like Dojo, Remind, TeamReach, GameChanger, OneCall, etc., will no longer be used. FinalForms and ProgressBook will be used for grades, forms, and academic records. Some of its features include:
-
Mass notifications and Urgent Alerts with two-way communication
-
Mobile application for administrators and parents (iOS and Android)
-
Attendance notifications
-
Teacher and classroom communication
-
Direct Messaging with two-way translation
-
Forms and Permission Slips
-
Appointment Sign Ups (parent-teacher conferences, technology pick-ups)
-
Calendar and RSVP
-
Volunteering and classroom sign-ups
Accessing ParentSquare
All staff members are connected to ParentSquare through their Huron City Schools email. From your browser, navigate to the ParentSquare website and select “Sign In With Google”. We also encourage our staff to download the ParentSquare mobile app from the Apple Store or the Google Play Store.
*Please make sure to adjust your notification settings to control how you receive message alerts.
Quick Start Guide
-
Start by clicking the ‘New Post’ button to send a message to your class/grade. Send plain messages, events, volunteer requests, or share pictures and files.
-
On ‘New Post’ page, use the language translation option to automatically send messages in two languages to parents: English and their home language.
-
Click ‘# Notified’ next to the eye at the bottom of the post to make sure your post reached every single student family in your class. If a parent does not have an email address, they are automatically sent a text. Parents can also download the app.
-
Have questions? Click the question mark in the top right corner of the desktop version or the Help tab on the app (tap the triple bar icon at the top left), and select ‘Help Articles’ to find answers to most of your questions. Or check the FAQ section below.
Explore the ParentSquare Dashboard
Check Class Roster
Click ‘Directory’ and select your class from the drop-down menu towards the top right to access your class.
Create a Post
Click ‘New Post’ to create a post. Select classes or groups, fill in a short subject and description, and click ‘Post’.
Add Class Events
On the calendar page, click on the date or a date range for your field trip/event and add details.
Send Direct Message
Click on ‘Messages’ in the sidebar. Then ‘New message’. Click to select students or type names to message.
Upload Photos
Click ‘New Post’. Click the icon on the left sidebar to select files or photos to add.
Request Volunteers
Click ‘New Post’ and on the left sidebar, click the icon to request volunteers.
-
If you are a school principal or administrator of the school's ParentSquare account, you can send an activation reminder to parents/caregivers or staff who have not activated their ParentSquare accounts. Any parent/caregiver, staff member, or student in grades K-12 can simply log into ParentSquare using the email address they log into FinalForms with.
-
-
Go to the ParentSquare website
-
On the login page, click “Forgot Password.”
-
Put in your email or phone number, and you will be sent a link to reset your password.
-
-
If you do not want to be notified of all messages instantly, we recommend updating your Notification Settings.
You have three options for how often you receive notifications on the platform via text, app alert, or email:
-
Instant: Receive all messages instantly
-
Digest: Receive all messages together in one daily communication around 6 PM.*
-
Off: No notifications are sent.*
*Please note: Regardless of your notification settings, you will continue to receive emergency notifications instantly. These notifications can be sent in the following ways: 1) A “Post” that is set to send immediately; 2) A Smart Alert, or 3) An Urgent Alert. In addition, Direct Messages can still be received.
Note: you cannot turn off Urgent Alerts & Notices; this includes attendance notices.
Change Notification Settings on Mobile App
-
From Home, tap the Menu (triple bars) on the top left.
-
Select Account.
-
Select Notifications.
-
Use the toggle to turn on or off notifications by email, text, and app.
-
Select Instant or Digest for email, text, or app.
Change Notification Settings on Web Browser
-
From Home, click your name in the top-right corner and select My Account.
-
Select Notification Settings on the left.
-
Choose your preferred Notification Settings for General Announcements & Messages (Off, Instant, or Digest) and School Alerts (On or Off).
-
-
You may notice that your class names are long or confusing. You can rename your classes however you wish to make it clear for yourself and parents. Here are the instructions: How to Rename a Class
-
You can enable office hours to let people know the best times you can be reached via Direct Messaging.
Staff, parents, or students who initiate a direct message with a staff user who is currently outside of office hours will be informed that the recipient may not respond until office hours resume.
Note: If you send a message to someone outside of their office hours, the message will still be delivered when you click send. And, the recipient can choose to reply while out of the office.
Set Office Hours via Website
-
Click your name in the top right and select My Account from the drop-down.
-
Select Office Hours and click Enable Office Hours.
-
Enter the time and select the days that you will be available to respond to direct messages.
-
Click Save.
-
You will continue to receive messages outside of office hours, but the sender will be informed that you are currently out of office and may not respond until office hours resume.
Set Office Hours Using Mobile App
-
From the ParentSquare mobile app, tap the three bars in the upper left, tap Account on the left, and then Preferences.
-
Tap Office Hours.
-
Tap the Enable Office Hours button to turn on (or off).
-
Select hours and days that you will be available.
-
-
Students are automatically added to your class through FinalForms. Any changes made to your class roster in FinalForms should be reflected in ParentSquare after a district sync.
-
Teachers can create groups with students who are not in their class.
-
Visit Groups > New Group > New Static Group or New Auto-Update Group.
-
From here, you can create the group and choose a name and description for your group, as well as whether or not you want the group to be public or private.
-
At the bottom, you can add your members by searching for them and checking the box next to the names of the individuals you would like to add.
-
When you are finished, click Save at the bottom.
-
-
-
From Admin, select Classes under Data Assistant.
-
Click the action menu (three dots) next to the class and choose Manage Class Staff. Manage Class Staff allows you to add other Teachers, Room Parents, or Assistants.
-
Click Add Row, fill out the details, and click Save.
Here is an article about best practices for teachers working in tandem with the same class.
-
-
-
As a staff member and a parent, you will be able to have both your staff contacts and your parent contacts linked to the same account. If you do so, parents will not be able to see your personal contact information.
If you have a district-issued staff email on your staff record and a personal email address on your parent record, multiple accounts may have been created for you.
If you already have the same phone listed on your staff and parent accounts, your accounts can be easily linked. The accounts will merge automatically once you complete the verification process and confirm both accounts. After this, both emails will be listed on your account, but you will be required to use your staff email to log in.
If you already have separate registered accounts under different emails/phones, you can use the Combine Account option to merge them.
Combining accounts on a web browser
-
Click on your name in the top right corner and go to “My Account.”
-
On the right-hand side, you’ll see a yellow box that says “Missing kids, schools, or contact info? Combine with another account.”
-
Click the link and follow the steps.
Combining accounts on the app
-
Click the menu (three bars on the top left corner)
-
Choose “Account”
-
Click “Combine Accounts” under “Missing kids, schools, or contact info?”
For more information, view this help article (log-in required).
-
-
From Home > New Post drop-down > Appointment Sign Ups and input the information according to your preferences, deleting any time slots that don’t work for you. To complete the post, in the To field, select the classes and groups that you want to sign up for.
-
If you would like to contact a few of your parents/guardians without posting to the entire class, use the Direct Messages feature.
Here is a help article on Direct Messaging.
-
Select Messages from the left sidebar on the homepage.
-
Here, you can select either a single parent to message or multiple parents. Just begin typing their name in the recipient field, and they will appear as an option.
-
If you select more than one recipient, the option to have it as a private message or a group message. A private message will create individual threads to each recipient, whereas a group message will create one thread where all recipients can communicate.
-
-
ParentSquare offers the capability to ask for both parent/guardian volunteers and items.
-
Click New Post and create a post about your class project.
-
Then, in the left sidebar, you can select both Ask for Items and Request Volunteers.
-
Input the items you need and how many, as well as how many volunteers you need and what activities they will be doing.
-
Once you are finished, click Post Now and watch your sign-up fill up.
Here is a help article on creating sign-ups and volunteer lists.
Can I manually add a parent/guardian to a sign-up?
Yes, if you have parents/guardians who have contacted you about a sign-up but have not signed up in ParentSquare, you can add these users manually.
-
Go to the post with the sign-up.
-
In the post, click Add Someone under the Sign Up button next to the time slot or item.
-
Search for the user, highlight their name, and click Save.
-
ParentSquare Best Practices
ParentSquare Pitfall
- Attaching a PDF
- Commenting instead of replying to a post
- Typing in ALL CAPS
- Including a .jpg with words in it (flyer)
- Adding a QR code to your post
- Not including alt text to images
- Failing to use all available tools
- Asking for a student's or a parent’s name, grade, and class in Forms
- Not adding events to your calendar
- Over-communuication
Why It Doesn’t Work
- PDFs are a pain, usually not ADA-compliant, and sometimes impossible to view on a phone.
- Parents won’t see what you wrote if you comment under their question on a post.
- People with visual impairments will hear this as an acronym, which is super annoying.
- Fliers are so 2010. They’re meant to be printed on paper, not read on a tiny phone screen. Plus, they’re not ADA-compliant.
- QR codes bridge the gap between the real world and the internet. You can’t scan a QR code that’s displayed on your phone.
- People with visual impairments won’t know what you posted.
- Post Add-ons like “RSVP,” “Forms,” “Ask for Items,” and “Request Volunteers” are there to make your job easier.
- ParentSquare already knows this information and includes it in your spreadsheet. No need to ask twice!
- Adding events to the calendar makes it easy for parents to see what’s coming up. You can also include RSVP and automatic reminders so they don’t forget!
- When parents are bombarded with too many messages, they start to tune out and end up missing important information.
What To Do Instead
- Type what you want to say directly in the body of your post or message.
- Make sure to click the “reply” button under their comment and type in the “reply” box so they can see your answer.
- Use bold, underlining, italics, different color fonts, or larger text to emphasize your points. (Just make sure to use darker colors that are easily read)
- Type (or copy & paste) the information directly in the body of your post. Insert a picture or graphic with no more than 5 words.
- Use a good old-fashioned link. Make sure to name the link to indicate its destination, rather than making the entire URL visible to the reader.
- When you add an image, click the “i” in the drop-down box to add a sentence briefly describing what’s happening in the photo.
- ParentSquare has lots of great tools, so use them!
- Use ParentSquare forms instead of Google Forms to make it easier for parents. Fewer questions and more convenient. Learn more about forms and permission slips here.
- For school-wide events, ask your school secretary to add it to the school’s calendar. For classroom or private events, use the “Calendar Entry” in Post Add-ons. You can also link it to your Google Calendar, if you have one. Learn how to link your Google Calendar in ParentSquare.
- Create a regular cadence for classroom communications – once a week or once a month, with all the important updates for your class. Use “Messages” to communicate with individual parents about their child’s achievements.
