ParentSquare FAQ

You can receive communication from the district, school, and classroom by email, text, app, or the ParentSquare website. We have set the default to instant, which means you will receive an immediate notification when new information is available. You can change your notification preferences, including your preferred language of communication, on your ParentSquare account page. Some may prefer to set their notifications to digest, so they can receive all messages in one notification at 6 p.m., rather than instantly.

Our district uses the ParentSquare as a tool for communication with our parents/guardians, students, families and staff. ParentSquare works with the district’s student-data system (PowerSchool) to notify families and staff through text and/or email. As long as we have a primary phone number and/or email on record for a student, the student’s family should automatically receive these messages when they are sent out.

The messages received through text and/or email are from ZESD 6 and our schools, but are are sent though ParentSquare. ParentSquare is fully compliant with FERPA and COPPA. The company safeguards the confidentiality of all information and adheres to industry-leading security protocols for data transfer and storage.

Below are some links that may be of interest:

• ParentSquare data, privacy and security resources - www.parentsquare.com/designed-for-k12/data-privacy-security/
• ParentSquare’s Privacy Policy - www.parentsquare.com/privacy/

All users have an account if their email and/or phone is listed in PowerSchool. All users receive notifications. Individuals who choose to not register or activate their account in ParentSquare will still receive an email digest at the end of each day regarding any communication that has been sent out to them. In the event of emergencies, communication will be delivered as well. That said, we encourage all to activate their accounts and download the mobile app to utilize the full functionality of the tool. By registering and activating your account, you can also update your preferences on when and how you are notified.

Yes, family members can share an email or phone number and yet have different accounts. However, if one account is a staff account, they can only be accessed with staff email/phone.

You can combine your multiple accounts in ParentSquare. Cases where combining accounts makes sense include:

• User is a staff member and parent/guardian: Combine staff account with a personal parent/guardian account to access both with one login. All emails and phone numbers remain associated. Note: Staff must sign in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.
• Parents/guardians share an email or home phone: Their accounts will automatically link if they are listed with shared contact information.
• User is missing a student or school from their main account: They have a second account for student or school that can be merged. 

Web browser

• If you have more than one contact card, and click "Yes, Merge This Contact" on each card, your contacts will automatically be merged into one account. ParentSquare allows a user to have multiple emails and phones

ParentSquare mobile app

• If you have more than one contact card, and tap "Yes, Merge This Contact" on each card, your contacts will automatically be merged into one account. ParentSquare allows a user to have multiple emails and phones.

Use link on email invitation

• Click link in email, "Sign in to Combine Existing Account."
• Sign in to your other ParentSquare account.
• Select name to use on your account and click "Combine Accounts."
• Your accounts are now combined. The next time you log in to ParentSquare, you can access your account using any* of the associated emails or phone numbers on your combined account. *Note: Staff must sign in with the email or phone number associated with their staff account.

No. ParentSquare is designed for each parent or guardian to have their own account.

ParentSquare allows users to customize their notifications by notification type and select their preferred delivery method for each school and district.

• Off: No notifications about posts from the district, your school or teachers will be sent to you. Emergency Alerts/Notices will still be sent. School Alerts will still be sent if turned on.
• Instant: You'll receive an email and/or text and/or an app notification every time a notice or message is sent.
• Digest: You'll receive an email and/or text and/or an app notification once a day in the evening ( 6 p.m.) with all posts from that day.

Note: If you’ve typed STOP in a previous ParentSquare text notification, you have opted out of communication completely. To continue receiving critical notices and information through ParentSquare, here are some suggestions:

• If you opted out by sending "STOP," you can opt back in by replying "START" to any previous message or texting "START" to 66458.
• Once you're opted back in, you can adjust how you receive notifications in ParentSquare to better fit your preferences by district/school to Instant, Digest or Off

Change Notification Settings from a web browser

• From Home, click your name in the top-right corner and select My Account.
• Select Notification Settings on the left. 
• Select Instant or Digest or Off for each school/building.

Change Notification Settings from the 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 or Off for each school/building.

ParentSquare pulls information directly from PowerSchool and works best with cell numbers, not landlines.

• Cell phone numbers are preferred because they can get text notifications.
• Landline numbers are better than no number, as landline numbers will get voice alerts … just not text notifications

Please call your child's school office and ask for your contact information to be updated in PowerSchool. After the school updates the information, the new contact details will be included in ParentSquare the next day.

Our district ParentSquare settings do not expose email addresses and phone numbers for staff members or parents/guardians.

Only district and school administrators with particular ParentSquare permissions have access to this information.

Please click on "Forgot Password?" on the sign-in screen and you will be emailed a link to reset your password.

On a browser, click on your name and select my account. Then on the left side, click on "Language Settings," and select your preferred language. 

On the app, go to Account > Preferences > Language. Select your preferred language. 

ParentSquare allows users to customize their notifications by notification type and select their preferred delivery method for each school and district.

• Off: No notifications about posts from the district, your school or teachers will be sent to you.
• Instant: You'll receive an email and/or text and/or an app notification every time a notice or message is sent.
• Digest: You'll receive an email and/or text and/or an app notification once a day in the evening (6 p.m.) with all posts from that day.

Note: If you’ve typed STOP in a previous ParentSquare text notification, you have opted out of communication completely. To continue receiving critical notices and information through ParentSquare, here are some suggestions:

• If you opted out by sending "STOP," you can opt back in by replying "START" to any previous message or texting "START" to 66458.
• Once you're opted back in, you can adjust how you receive notifications in ParentSquare to better fit your preferences by district/school to Instant, Digest or Off

Change Notification Settings from a web browser

• From Home, click your name in the top-right corner and select My Account.
• Select Notification Settings on the left. 
• Select Instant or Digest or Off for each school/building.

Change Notification Settings from the 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 or Off for each school/building.

Additional notes: 

• Post senders can override the digest option to send instantly to all recipients despite user preferences, but in general should only do so when appropriate.  
• Notification settings apply to "Posts" only. The "Messages" tool, intended for one-to-one direct messaging or small group messaging only, is instant delivery no matter the user settings. 

If your child's information is missing or inaccurate, please reach out to the district's Communications Department at pr@zion6.org.

Yes, families can select different settings for each school and district. Parents/guardians can do this by going to their account and updating their preferences. 

Each contact (staff or parent/guardian record) has only one email and phone associated with it. A parent/guardian account can have multiple contacts, with multiple emails and phone numbers if they have different emails/phones for each child in the school database or across districts. ZESD 6 staff who are also parents/guardians can have multiple emails/phones. After verifying your contacts, you can set your preferred order of contacts in which to receive notifications. 

No you do not need to sue the app or your cell phone. If you prefer, you can navigate to www.parentsquare.com/signin from a computer and view and utilize all of the same ParentSquare activities.

Regarding phones:

• ParentSquare pulls information directly from PowerSchool and works best with cell numbers, not landlines.
  • Cell phone numbers are preferred because they can get text notifications.
  • Landline numbers are better than no number, as landline numbers will get voice alerts... just not text notifications.
• Please call your child's school office and ask for your contact information to be updated in PowerSchool. After the school updates the information, the new contact details will be included in ParentSquare the next day.

If you received the message "We detected that this new password was exposed in a breach at another company. As a precaution, we do not allow this password to be used. Please provide a different password," please follow the instructions on the screen to set a more secure password for your account.

A breached password means it is possible someone may have access to your password without your permission. ParentSquare’s Password Monitor provides additional security to prevent potential attackers from using leaked information to access the platform.

What is recommended for a good password?

• Use at least 8 characters (the more characters the better)
• Use a combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols
• Avoid common password words and patterns like "1Password!" and "reallylongpassword1"
• Avoid re-using passwords you've used for other websites

Not all ZESD 6 teachers are using ParentSquare for classroom communication, as it is optional for teaching staff. If your student's teacher is using ParentSquare, you can message them two ways:

• On the web, select Messages in the sidebar, then start a direct conversation by clicking New Message.
• On the ParentSquare App, you can tap on the “+” sign to start a new message.

You will see your child's teacher(s) and group owners in the quick-select recipient's box at the top of the page. Or, you can type the first three letters of a name in the recipient box to auto-populate other users.