Yukon Public Schools Information Technology Division School Messenger Notification System Yukon Public Schools expands functionality of its parent and staff notification system... School Messenger is the Yukon Public Schools fully hosted, software as a service (SaaS) notification platform used to connect with parents, students and staff through voice, SMS text, email and social media. Originally, the YPS School Messenger notification system was only being used to generate phone calls for attendance, general and emergency announcements. Now you as a parent or staff member have the ability to login to the system directly and add additional phone numbers, email addresses, and a cell phone for SMS text messages, via the YPS School Messenger Contact Manager. What you need in order to sign-up: Content: 1. If a parent: Your child(s) student identification number If a staff member: You can update your contact information in the ivisons Employee Self-Service Portal* Page 2 Instructions on how to sign-up for YPS School Messenger Contact Manager Pages 3-5 Activating your YPS School Messenger Contact Manager Account Pages 5-6 Important Notes about your Account & FAQs 2. Access to the primary home telephone tied to your child(s) school record or respective staff record. (A hint is provided upon successfully registering your account and a valid identification number).* * Please note that if you are unsure of either piece of information required as listed above, your child(s) school can help. Staff members may work with their respective school s front office staff or contact the YPS Information Technology Division for assistance. The information that follows are instructions on how to complete the online registration form, activate your account, tie your child(ren) to your account with your account in the School Messenger Contact Messenger.
Activating School Messenger Contact Manager Parent/Guardian & Staff Instructions Yukon Public Schools uses the SchoolMessenger Notification System to provide timely communication to parents and staff members on matters such as attendance, general interest activities and campus and district emergencies. In order to enhance our ability to accurately deliver that information we kindly request that you create your own contact preference profile using SchoolMessenger s Contact Manager web site. Contact Manager allows you to control the ways in which you prefer to be contacted. It also works like a mail- box, giving you a place to review messages you may have missed. To control how SchoolMessenger contacts you, you must follow the steps below to 1. create an account 2. activate your account and 3. set your contact preferences Be sure to read ALL the instructions and follow them carefully. You will need to have your child s student ID number to complete this process. Your child s student ID number can be found in Parent Portal, or you may call your child s school to find out what it is. You will be required to complete your account activation by calling from a phone number assigned as the home phone number for your child. If you need to update contact phone numbers for your child, call your child s campus to do so. 1. Click on the following URL into your web browser: https://contactme.schoolmessenger.com/newportaluser.php?u=yukonps 2. You will be taken to the Sign Up page where you will need to enter your email address, a password, your name, and zip code. You will use this email address and the password you enter here to sign in later. 3. Check the box that says Email me when I have a new phone message if you would like to receive an email message each time there is a new message in your mailbox. 4. Click Create Account when you are done. [Note: SchoolMessenger has a strict privacy policy and does not sell or distribute your contact information to any 3rd party.] Yukon Public Schools PAGE 2
5. Check your email. There will be an Account Activation email from contactme@schoolmessenger. com that contains a link to activate your account and a confirmation code. This link will take you to a confirmation page as shown in the image below, where you must enter your CONFIRMATION CODE and the password you created earlier in order to activate your account. Please ensure you click on the link in the email provided otherwise it will not work. Once you ve activated your account, you re ready to tell SchoolMessenger how you want to be contacted. YOU ARE NOT FINISHED YET! READ AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE NEXT PAGE! Yukon Public Schools PAGE 3
6. Click the, Click here to begin button. 7. Select the first option that says, I do not have an Activation Code and want to activate by phone, and click Next. You must select this option. 8. Type in your child s student ID number. Your child s student ID number can be found in Parent Portal, or you may call your child s school to find out what it is. Yukon Public Schools PAGE 4
9. Follow the instructions on the page to call in. You will need to be able to call into the system from the primary home phone number associated with your child. The last three digits of this phone number are provided for you on the screen. If this is no longer a valid phone number for you, STOP here and contact your child s school to have it changed to the correct number. Once it is changed, you will need to wait at least 24 hours and then then complete this entire process again. 10. When the phone call is complete, go back to your computer screen and click on the Contacts tab and click the edit link to the right of your name. There, you can simply check which types of messages you would like to receive and at which phone number or email address. If you would like to receive text messages on your mobile phone, enter your mobile phone number in the SMS section. You will receive a txt that you must opt-in with. rt 11. Make sure that you click Save when you are done making changes. Thank you for signing up and we hope you enjoy the Yukon Public Schools SchoolMessenger Contact Manager! Important Information: Number of Accounts per Family/Guardian Only one account can be created per family or guardian. Please note that in the case of custodial issues and where the parent and/or guardian are separated, only one account can be setup for the child. We ask that in the best interest of the child, that the parents and/or guardians work together to ensure both parents and/or guardians are listed on the account if necessary. Obtaining your child(s) Student Number Most students will know their student numbers and you can obtain that information from them. If you are not sure of your students identification number and have a Parent Portal account, you can login and view the Student Number under the Grades and Attendance section. If you still cannot find or obtain your child(s) student number, you may contact your child(s) respective school to obtain this information. Staff: Obtaining your Identification Number from PowerSchool You may update your contact and demographic information through the YPS ivisions Employee Self-Service Portal. Once your information is updated, please allow 24-48 hours for the changes to take effect. If you have issues or are unable to obtain this information, you may open a support eticket with YPS Information Technology through normal processes. Yukon Public Schools PAGE 5
Frequently Asked Questions: Do I make an account for each student I have in the District? No, one account will handle all students in a family. Use the student ID numbers to add each student to the account created. Do I need to log in to School Messenger to get messages in addition to checking email? No, e-mail messages will be delivered to the e-mail account you provided in your account and phone messages will continue to be delivered according to your settings. By logging into Contact Manager you can review sent messages. A recorded message from the school was delivered to my home phone, I said "hello" and no message played. What should I do? Log on to your SchoolMessenger account to see a list of all messages sent to your home and review the messages. SchoolMessenger can work like a mailbox, giving you a place to review messages you may have missed. I have forgotten my password for the SchoolMessenger Contact Manager, what do I do? Go to the SchoolMessenger Contact Manager website and click the link that says "Forgot your password." Follow the prompts to retrieve your password. I cannot change my home phone number in Contact Manager? We do not allow access to changing the home phone number through this system. To make changes to the primary number, please notify the school office or update this information through the Parent Portal. Can I prioritize which of my phone numbers receive calls first (meaning could the designations of home, mother's cell, father's cell be re-ordered)? The designations come from the system but you can add in any two phone numbers that will be most effective for you to receive messages from the system. Will I receive duplicate messages for each child? No, messages are delivered once to each account. How do I find or obtain my child(s) student identification number? Your child(s) student identification number can be found by logging in to your Parent Portal account and navigating to the Grades and Attendance section. You will see a number located to the right of your child s name towards the top of this section. This is the number you will need. If you do not have a Parent Portal account you may contact your child(s) school to request access. Yukon Public Schools PAGE 6