The Guilderland Central School District uses SchoolMessenger as a way to contact our parents, students and staff members for emergency notifications, such as school closings/delays and emergency situations in schools.
SchoolMessenger How-To
If you are a current K-12 parent/guardian or the parent/guardian of an incoming kindergartner you have already been signed up for SchoolMessenger through contact information that is automatically entered at the time of student registration.
If you would like to modify your notification preferences, please visit the School Messenger login page: (https://go.schoolmessenger.com/#/account/login) and select “Preferences” from the menu in the top left corner of your SchoolMessenger home screen. Please note: When choosing your preferences it is important to know that Non-School Hours Emergency would be notifications that may impact the start or the cancellation of the school day. This would include, but is not limited to, weather-related delays and closings, and/or building specific incidents that would require a delay to the start of the day.
A School Hour Emergency would be an alert about something that has occurred during the school day that requires us to contact you immediately. We encourage you not to disable any contact type for type of broadcast.
If you are a district resident without children in grades K-12 and would like to remain informed about district-wide events, please follow these steps:
1. Click on this link to head to the SchoolMessenger page and click the “Sign Up Now” link near the bottom of the page.
2. You will be taken to the sign-up page where you will need to confirm the encrypted image, your name, a valid email address, and a password. Review and accept the Terms of Service. Click “Create Account” when you are done.
3. DO NOT CLOSE THE TAB WINDOW. This page will change to the one where you will enter your activation code.
4. Check your email. There will be an Account Activation email from support@schoolmessenger.com with the subject “Account Activation” which contains a link to activate your account. Activation codes are valid for 24 hours. Type the activation code into the confirmation page for SchoolMessenger. You will then have to enter your password in order to activate your SchoolMessenger account.
5. Once you’ve activated your account, you’re ready to select your notification preferences on what kind of messages you will receive. Select “Community” to receive community-specific messages, such as budget-related and/or community-related messages.
Why the change?
SchoolMessenger is a more efficient and effective way for the district to reach parents in an emergency. The system allows the district to contact parents via text and phone, if necessary.
SchoolMessenger Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
What is SchoolMessenger (SM)?
SchoolMessenger is a mass communication tool that Guilderland uses to send phone calls, email and text messages regarding school hour and non-school hour emergencies.
Is SchoolMessenger the same as School News Notifier (SNN)?
No, but they do similar things. SchoolMessenger is a much more reliable platform for sending out timely notifications.
What is the difference between a school hour and non-school hour emergency?
School hour emergency notifications include instances like unexpected early dismissals due to inclement weather, water main breaks, or power outages issued during the school day. They may also need to be used for security-related communications. Non-school hour emergency notifications would include delays or closings due to weather or other unforeseen complications that may impact the start of a school day.
I don’t want you to call my house at 6 a.m. for delays or closings! Can I please just get a text or an email?
Sure. Please follow the SchoolMessenger “How to Guide” (above) to register for an account and modify your communications preferences.
I didn’t get an opt-in request on my cell phone to get text messages. What do I do?
Contact information from parents is pulled from eSchoolData. Please log into eSchoolData to verify that your cell phone is listed correctly. If you don’t have an eSchoolData parent portal account please contact the district office to create one: (518) 456-6200. If the information is listed correctly you can send a text to 67587 with the word YES or Y, and you will be automatically opted in.
We just moved to the school district. How do we sign up?
Your contact information will be automatically uploaded to SchoolMessenger and an opt-in text message will be sent on the following business day after 10 a.m.