ParentSquare Help

Wylie ISD uses a custom branded version of ParentSquare for school communication, primarily with email, text and app notifications. Wylie ISD Connect, powered by ParentSquare, automatically generates an account for each parent, using the email address and phone number you provide to us. We encourage parents to access their accounts so they can download the mobile app and update their preferences on when and how they are notified.

Here’s what you can do with ParentSquare:

Receive messages from the school via email, text or app notification
Choose to receive information as it is created or all at once with a daily digest at 6 p.m.
Communicate in your preferred language
Comment on school postings to engage with your school community
Direct message teachers, staff and other parents
Participate in group messages
Sign up for parent-teacher conferences
Sign forms & permission slips, sign up to volunteer and more all from your desktop or mobile device

Quick ParentSquare Introduction

Getting Started

Wylie ISD Connect, powered by ParentSquare, automatically generates an account for each parent, using the email address and phone number you provide to us. Parents and students will receive an invitation to verify their account at the beginning of each semester. Once your account is verified, you are ready to go.

While you can use ParentSquare on a computer, the best experience is had when using the mobile app. To download the app, simply click the appropriate button below or visit the Apple App store or Google Play store and search for 'Wylie ISD Connect'. Once the app is installed, simply log in with the credentials you established during the activation process.

Wylie ISD Connect for iOS

Wylie ISD Connect for Android

Support for Parents

Step By Step Instructions

Open the invitation email or text. Click Activate your account or tap the link to activate your account.
Create a Password for your ParentSquare account and click Register.
Click Confirm for your phone number and/or email. A verification code will be sent to the email or phone number.
Enter the verification code to confirm.
Confirm your child(ren) by clicking Confirm. Use Not My Child if a child listed is not associated with your account.
Select Yes, This is Me when you have confirmed your contact information and child(ren) associated with your account.

Name misspelled?
Wrong email or phone number?
Missing a child on your account?
Contact your child’s school to get this information updated in Skyward.
Click ? (Help) for help or your school contact information.
Select Help Articles to learn how to use ParentSquare.

How to Verify Your Contact Information

You can verify your contact information to ensure that you are receiving the correct communication. When you open ParentSquare, you will be prompted to verify your contact information. You can choose to skip verification at that time and verify later.

Verify in Web Browser

Log in to your ParentSquare account.
If you have unverified contact information, you will see one or more contact cards under "Action Required: Confirm Your Account Information". You may choose to:
- Confirm Email or Phone: A verification code will be sent to the email or phone number. Enter verification code into ParentSquare to confirm.
- Edit Email or Phone: Correct your email and/or phone number. A verification code will be sent to your corrected email or phone number. Enter verification code into ParentSquare to confirm.
- Skip For Now: You will be able to verify or correct your contact information the next time you sign in.
Confirm Child(ren): Select Correct or Remove/Edit for each child.
Click Yes, this is me or This is Not Me.
If you clicked Skip For Now on any information on a contact card, you will not see the choice, "Yes, This is Me", and must select Skip For Now or This is Not Me.
Your school is notified of corrections in order to update its student information system (SIS). After your school approves your updated information, it will appear in your account. If your information has not been updated within 3 school days, please contact your school directly.

Verify in Mobile App

Log in to your ParentSquare account.
If you have unverified contact information, you will see one or more contact cards with "Action Required", "Confirm Your Account Info." Tap the arrow to the right of Email and Phone to confirm or edit each one.
Select Confirm, Edit or Skip For Now. Repeat for phone number.
Verify Email or Phone: tap Confirm. A verification code is sent to the email or phone number. Enter verification code into ParentSquare to confirm.
Correction to Email or Phone: tap Edit: Enter correct email and/or phone number. A verification code is sent to your corrected email or phone number. Enter verification code into ParentSquare to confirm.
Skip For Now: You will be able to verify or correct your contact information at a later time.
Confirm Child(ren): Select Correct or Remove/Edit.
Tap Yes, this is me or This is Not Me.
Your school is notified of corrections in order to update its student information system (SIS). After the school confirms the information, it will show in your account.

How to Verify If You 'Skipped for Now'

The next time you sign out and then sign in again, you'll be asked to verify your contact information.
OR, when you are signed in to ParentSquare, click on your name in the upper right and select My Account. Go to the yellow box, "Missing kids, schools or contact info?" and select Confirm Contact Info.
Follow the steps above to confirm.

Multiple Accounts? Merge Them Together.

Sometimes users will need to merge accounts together. Sometimes parents with more than one child will have multiple accounts because parent information didn’t match (name, email, phone). Many staff members are also parents, and will have a staff account and a personal parent account. You can combine accounts so everything is in one place.

Steps to Combine Your Accounts:

Log in to your main ParentSquare account.
Click your name in upper right and select My Account.
Click Combine with another account.
If there are any accounts matching your verified email(s) or phone(s), a page with recommended users will appear:
1. Click Combine Accounts, confirm any additional contacts on the account, and click Combine Accounts.
2. If you do not see the account you want listed, click Combine Another Account.
Log in to the other ParentSquare account you want to combine.
Select name to use on your account and click Combine Accounts.

Your accounts are now combined. The next time you login to ParentSquare, you will be able to access your account using any of the associated email addresses or phone numbers on your combined account.

Notifications

ParentSquare allows users to customize their notifications based on notification type and delivery method for each school.

The Instant setting will send all post notifications in real-time.
The Digest setting will send all posts for the day in one single digest at the end of the day (recommended.)

Direct messages, alerts and time-sensitive posts will be delivered instantly. You can also choose to turn off notifications (excluding emergency alerts and notices).

What to do:

If you are using the web browser: On your home page, click your name, select “My Account,” then, “Notification Settings.”
If you are using the mobile app: From your home screen, click the triple bar in the top left corner. Click on “Account,” then “Notifications.”

Training Video

Frequently Asked Questions

Q:Is ParentSquare replacing some existing tools and services Wylie ISD has been using?

Yes. The following communication tools and services may no longer be available (this is not an exhaustive list):

Wylie ISD Mobile App
Remind
ClassDojo
Peachjar

The functionality of these most of these tools are available within ParentSquare. The district, campuses, teachers, coaches and club sponsors will communicate with parents/students through ParentSquare.

Q: I am not seeing all my children, how do I fix this?

Please ensure you have verified your account. If you need help doing so, please see the steps 5 & 6 under 'Step by Step' instructions above.

Q: Do I have to Verify my account?

Yes. This is an important step to ensure ParentSquare works correctly. Often, parents who have trouble with ParentSquare have not verified their accounts. This also serves as a safeguard to ensure we are sending the right information to the right person.

Q: My email is correct in ParentSquare. Why am I not receiving emails?

Please check your spam folders and filters to see if any ParentSquare messages ended up there. If so, mark them as "Not Spam."

Also add donotreply@parentsquare.com to your email contacts so your server recognizes messages sent from this address as not being spam. If you still are not receiving emails, please contact ParentSquare Support at support@parentsquare.com for assistance.

How do I change my password?

Please go to parentsquare.com and on the login page click "Forgot Password." Put in your email or phone number and you will be sent a link to reset your password. Please be sure to use the same phone number or email address you provided to us.

I accidentally opted out of text messages. How can I resubscribe?

If you accidentally opted out of text messages, please text "START" to 66458".

English is not my first language. How can I receive content in my native language?

You can customize your language settings by going to "My Account" and clicking "Change This" under language settings. From here, you can choose any language you prefer from the drop-down menu, and you will start to receive content in that language. Consult this helpful article for more information on changing your language settings.

Is it possible to contact my child's teacher directly and privately?

Contact your child's teacher privately by using the direct messaging tool. On the home page, click on "Messaging" in the left sidebar. From here, you can send a direct message to your child's teacher that only you and the teacher can see. You can also send messages to other staff members at the school, such as your child's coaches and club leaders. Consult this helpful article on using direct messaging within ParentSquare.

Q: Will parents receive notifications from ParentSquare if they do not sign up for ParentSquare?

Yes. All Wylie ISD parents/guardians have a ParentSquare account automatically created for them by Wylie ISD via a nightly sync between ParentSquare and Skyward (our student information system). This is how the ParentSquare platform is able to contact you.

ParentSquare is the primary tool for District and campus communication. Individuals who do not activate their account in ParentSquare will still receive an email digest at the end of each day that communication is sent out to them. In the event of emergencies, phone calls will be sent out as well.

Activate/Register your ParentSquare account to be able to use the full array of tools, such as direct messaging between you and your student’s teacher(s)…and many more helpful tools!

Support for Staff

Getting Started

ParentSquare is a parent engagement tool that helps teachers and staff easily communicate and collaborate with parents. Already set up for your classrooms, you can start using ParentSquare right away to send messages to your families, share pictures and request participation.

Accessing ParentSquare

Check your inbox for an email from ParentSquare and click the link in the email to activate your account.

You can use ParentSquare on any device. You can download the free mobile app for iOS or Android and you can also use it from a computer at parentsquare.com.

Training Video

Embed a Smore in a Post

Setup Office Hours

The Office Hours setting allows staff and teachers to enable office hours to let everyone know the best times they can be reached via Direct Messaging.

Staff, parents or students who initiate a direct message with a staff user, who is currently outside of office hours, will be informed that the recipient may not respond until office hours resume. Note: If you send a message to someone outside of their office hours, the message will still be delivered when you click send. And, the recipient can choose to reply while out of office.

Using Website

Click your name in top right and select My Account from drop-down.
Select Office Hours and click Enable Office Hours.
Enter time and select days that you will be available to respond to direct messages.
Click Save.
You will continue to receive messages outside of office hours, but the sender will be informed that you are currently out of office and may not respond until office hours resume.

Using Mobile App

From Wylie ISD Connect mobile app, tap the three bars in the upper left, tap Account on left, and then Preferences.
Tap Office Hours.
Tap Enable Office Hours button to turn on (or off).
Select hours and days that you will be available.

Create Guest Accounts

Need to create a guest account for your classroom? Simply create a post to your class and add the form called 'Add a Guest Account'. Parents can fill out the form to request a guest account for an extended family member.

Once you have your responses, download the results and send the file to communications@wylieisd.net so the Communications team can create your accounts for you.

Please include the name of the group you would like the accounts added to in your email.

How To

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I am both a staff member and a parent in the district. How can I add my child to my staff account?

It is likely that you have two separate accounts: a parent account with a personal email and a staff account with your school email. You can merge your staff and parent account so that you have access to your children and school under one single account. See 'Multiple Accounts? Merge Them Together' under Support for Parents for the steps to get this done.

Q: Can I still use Seesaw, Dojo, or Remind or similar tools to communicate with parents/guardians?

No. The district does not hold contracts with these vendors. ParentSquare provides parents with one place to go for communications. This has a proven result of increased familial engagement. Additionally, using ParentSquare, you may find that you get more engagement with non-English speaking families due to the real-time translation feature.

Q: Do I need to let parents/guardians know about ParentSquare?

No. Parents/guardians will receive an activation email for their ParentSquare accounts. Those who do not activate their account will still receive an email digest.

Q: How are rosters populated in ParentSquare?

ParentSquare syncs with Skyward on a nightly basis. Any rosters that you are associated with in Skyward will automatically show up in ParentSquare.

Q: Do all students have ParentSquare messaging?

No. Students in grades PK-4 do not have email addresses, therefore they do not have access to ParentSquare.

Students in grades 5-12 have access to message their teachers, coaches and club sponsors in ParentSquare and can receive communications.

I accidentally opted out of text messages. How can I resubscribe?

If you accidentally opted out of text messages, please text "START" to 66458".

Q: Can I add a room parent or classroom assistant to my class?

From Admin, select Classes under Data Assistant.
Click action menu (three dots) next to the class and choose Edit Class or Manage Class Staff.
Edit Class gives you the option to edit the class Name and then Save.
Manage Class Staff allows you to add other Teachers, Room Parents, or Assistants. Click Add Row, fill out details and click Save.

More Information

Q: I am in charge of a club or sport, can I communicate with just those parents even if their children are not in my class?

Teachers have the ability to create groups with students who are not in their class.

Please visit Groups > New Group > New Static Group. From here you can create the group and choose a name and description for your group, as well as whether or not you want the group to be public or private. At the bottom, you can add your members by searching for them and checking the box next to the name of the individuals you would like to add. When you are finished click 'Save' at the bottom.

Click Sheet

Q: Is it possible to contact a few of my students' parents privately?

If you would like to contact a few of your parents without posting to the entire class, please use the messaging feature. Select "Messaging" from the left sidebar on the homepage. Here, you can select either a single parent to message, or multiple parents. Just begin typing their name in the recipient field, and they will appear as an option.

If you select more than one recipient, the choice will come up to have a private message or a group message. A private message will create individual threads to each recipient, whereas a group message will create one thread where all recipients can communicate.

Q: I am doing a project in my class and I need parent volunteers and items for our project. Can I ask for these on ParentSquare?

ParentSquare offers the capability to ask for both parent volunteers and items. Please go to “New Post” and create a post about your class project. Then, in the left sidebar you can select "Ask for Items" and/or "Request Volunteers."

Next, input the items and amount you need, as well as how many volunteers you need and what activities they will be doing. Once you are finished, click "Post Now" and watch your sign up fill up.

Click Sheet

Q: Can I manually add a parent to a specific sign up?

Yes, if you have parents who have contacted you about a sign up but have not signed up in ParentSquare, you can add these users manually. Please login to ParentSquare and go to the signup post you would like to add the parent to. Then, on the sign up post please click "add someone" above the sign up button next to the time slot or item you would like to sign them up for. Search for the user, highlight their name and click save!

Q: How do I create conference sign ups for multiple classes and/or groups?

Go to Add-Ons > Conference Sign Ups and on the first page of the conference sign up, select any class to start. Go through and input the information according to your preferences, deleting any time slots that don't work for you. Finally on the third page, you can delete the original class you chose, and select the classes and groups that you would like to hold the conferences for. Consult this article on conference sign ups for more information.