Messaging and Notifications

The Sunnyside School District is excited to announce the use of ParentSquare as our new notification and messaging system. ParentSquare allows us to unify all parent communication from the district level to school club or sport in one place. There are several tools within ParentSquare that allows staff and families to more easily communicate regarding our students.

As of today, May 11, 2021, we are in the launch phase, which means we are beginning the training process for staff at the district and school office level. Once that is completed, our teaching staff, coaches, and activities facilitators will have the opportunity to go through training. We expect our new system to be up and running fully for the start of the 2021-2022 school year!

The ParentSquare app can be downloaded from the Apple Store or Google Play. You must create your account using the email address or phone number that is one file with your child's school. It will automatically connect to your child or children within the app.

We are excited to launch this new, robust communication tool for families and staff alike! Please contact the Communications Office at 509-836-8703 or at [email protected] if you have any questions!

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EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS

As a school district, we strive to provide the most complete and in-time information possible during emergency and inclement weather situations. Below is a complete list of methods we use for communicating messages to staff and families.

Inclement Weather: Messages posted to District website, Facebook page, local news stations, and text alerts to staff and families. Be sure to read our Inclement Weather Message, which outlines our cancellation and delay process.

Emergency Situations (Secure and Teach, Lock Down, Evacuation and Reunification): Messages posted to District website, Facebook and Twitter, text alert sent to staff and families. In the event that more information needs to be sent, a robo-call will be used with a recorded message playing back on the District's notification line at 509-836-8404.

Emergency Text Alert Opt-In Information

Parents and Guardians

Sunnyside School District uses SchoolMessenger to deliver SMS text messages straight to your mobile phone with important information during emergency situations including inclement weather and safety situations.

To receive these text alerts, you must opt-in by texting "Y" or "YES" to 67587, our school district's short code number. If you have not opted-in by May 30, a text invitation will be sent to the phone number we have on file for your family, inviting you to sign up for the service. If at any time you want to stop the text alerts, simply reply with "STOP" to any of the messages you receive.

SchoolMessenger is compliant with the Student Privacy Pledge, so you can rest assured your information is safe and will never be given or sold to anyone.

SMS stands for Short Message Service and is commonly referred to as "text message." Most cell phones support this type of text messaging. Our notification provider, SchoolMessenger, uses a true SMS protocol developed by the telecommunications industry specifically for mass text messaging, referred to as "short code" texting. This method is fast, secure and highly reliable because it is strictly regulated by the wireless carriers and only allows access to approved providers. If you've ever sent a text vote to a TC show to a number like 46999, you have used shortcode texting.