School Messenger
IMPORTANT UPDATE! - January 2018
To address some technical issues our users were experiencing, as of January, 2018, we have been transferred to School Messenger's Canadian servers.
As a result, we are running our Opt-In campaign again. Parents and students will receive a text message from the short code 978-338 that says "Northern Lights Public Schools alerts. Reply Y or HELP. Std msg/data rates apply. Freq caries. schoolmessenger.ca/tm." To receive text messages from your school, you will need to text Y back to that number.
Parents who are using the School Messenger App will also need to log out of the app and then create a new account on the Canadian site. - go.schoolmessenger.ca. Please remember to use the same email address you have on file with your child's school so the information will sync properly. When you log back into the app, please select Canada as your location and enter your new log in information. See our detailed SCHOOL MESSENGER APP instructions or download our School Messenger Parent Guide for more information. Please note that you will need to set your Contact Preferences in the Preferences section of the app. This will determine how you will receive messages from your child's school and Northern Lights Public Schools.
Please note the School Messenger app has a new feature that automatically creates a conversation thread for each classroom your child is connected to. You will no longer have to enter a group code to participate in messaging with your child's teacher.
SCHOOL MESSENGER
School Messenger allows schools, and teachers, to send messages to parents and/or students using the contact information they provided to the school when they registered. This includes automated attendance notifications when students aren't at school and their absence hasn't already been reported by a parent or guardian. It can also include general messages from your child's teacher, school or division such as newsletters and information on upcoming events. The messages can be sent as voice messages to your phone(s), as email messages or as text messages.
You can also see all of the messages sent to you in the SCHOOL MESSENGER APP, which can be downloaded on Apple or Android phones (sorry, no Blackberry version). If you select notifications in the settings part of the app, you will be notified whenever you have a new message. In addition to showing you all of your messages for all of your children, the app can be used for schools or teachers to communicate with parents/guardians and/or students through groups in the app.
The app will also allow you to set your contact preferences for different kinds of messages. Please note, Northern Lights requires you to have at least one contact method (email, phone, text) activated to receive emergency messages.
No smartphone?
You will still receive all of the voice, email or text messages the division, school and your child's teacher send out if your contact information is up-to-date.
You can also see all of the messages you have been sent and participate in groups on your desktop computer.
For directions on how to download and set up the app, or to access School Messenger on your computer go to our SCHOOL MESSENGER APP page or download our School Messenger Parent Guide.
What Parents Need to Do
To make sure you receive messages sent out through School Messenger, please do the following:
- Ensure your contact information is up-to-date at your child's school. You will need to have an email address on file to receive email messages and a cell phone number on file for text messages.
- Opt-in to text messages. You will not receive text messages unless you opt in, even if your cell phone number is on file with your child's school. Once you have given the school a cell phone number, you will receive a text from a short code 978-338 asking if you want to receive text messages from your child's school. To opt-in, text "Y" back to that short code. If you do not respond to the message, you will not receive text messages through School Messenger. It will look like this:
Want more information about the SMS Text Opt-In Campaign? Check out our FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS PAGE - Create an account on at go.schoolmessenger.com and download the app or access your messages on your computer. Make sure you use the same email address as the one that you provided to your child's school. You may need to check that email address for a verification email before your account is activated and you can use the app.
For directions on how to download and set up the app, or to access School Messenger on your computer go to our SCHOOL MESSENGER APP page or download our School Messenger Parent Guide.