When every family needs to receive a critical message quickly, clearly, and in a way they understand, you can’t leave anything to chance. Fragmented tools, language barriers, and inconsistent messaging often get in the way. District Emergency Alerts & Broadcast Notifications expands TalkingPoints into a unified, multi-channel communications solution that helps schools and districts overcome these challenges.
With just one button, leaders can send critical emergency alerts via short code SMS text, email, app notifications, and automated phone calls. Messages are delivered with industry-leading translation in more than 150 languages. With TalkingPoints’ text-first model, schools and districts can count on optimal reach for important messages. These alerts override opt-out settings when urgency and safety are at stake. Flexible broadcast notifications respect families’ communication preferences while ensuring fast and comprehensive outreach across text, app, email, and calls.
District Emergency Alerts & Broadcast Notifications will be available August 2025. Additional features, such as web and social media posting, will launch in Fall 2025. By consolidating communication tools into one trusted platform, it ensures schools and districts can deliver critical information at scale—when the message matters most.
Capability | TalkingPoints |
Emergency Alerts (bypass opt outs) | ✅ |
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
Multi-Modal/Multi-Channel Broadcast Message Delivery (non-emergency broadcasts) | ✅ |
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
Family Preference Management - In App | ✅ |
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
FAQs
When will this package be available?
District Emergency Alerts & Broadcast Notifications will be available August 1, 2025 as part of the new Admin Family Connect Plus package.
Will all features be available in August 2025?
No. The initial capabilities outlined here will be available in August, with additional features—such as web and social media posting—coming in Fall 2025.
Who will be able to manage and send District Emergency Alerts & Broadcast Notifications?
District-level admin users can access both Emergency Alerts and Broadcast Notifications when creating a new message. School-level admin users can access Emergency Alerts for their school only. Both features will be available only to users who have specific permissions to send these types of messages.
What roles will have access to these features?
Permissions for Emergency Alerts and Broadcast Notification will be added to the standard District Admin and School Admin roles. Additionally, the permissions can be added to custom roles.
How are Emergency Alerts sent?
Emergency Alerts are sent through three modalities: text, email, call by selecting “Send A Message” within the District and School product.
SMS text is sent using a short code (5-6 digit) number, rather than the traditional 10-digit phone number associated with the district or school. This allows for much faster delivery of messages. All contacts will receive the message via SMS text, even if they use the Family App.
Additionally, Family App users will receive a push notification and see the message in the app.
The same text will also be delivered as an email to the contact email address.
The same text is recorded into English audio, and then translated. An automated call is then placed to the contact phone number, and the audio recording is played. It is not possible to record audio from the user’s voice for an emergency alert.
How are Broadcast Notifications sent?
Broadcast Notifications are sent through three modalities: text or app (not both), email, and call.
Text or app messages are sent like a traditional district message.
The same text will also be delivered as an email to the contact email address.
For the call, the user may use the same text as the message to record the audio, or record their own voice. Translations and translated audio are based on the transcript used for the English call (whether the text message text, or the user’s voice transcription). An automated call is then placed to the contact phone number and the audio recording is played.
How do I know an Emergency Alert or Broadcast Notification was delivered?
The “delivery details” modal, currently available only in the District product, will be expanded to support emails and calls for Emergency Alerts and Broadcast Notifications. The School product delivery details modal will have support for Emergency Alerts. This expanded modal will indicate what percentage and number of contacts were reached via any modality, plus provide breakdown for text, email, call.
Example of delivery details for a Broadcast Notification (District product). Similar data is provided for each channel:
Example of a read receipt for an Emergency Alert (District & School products):
Can templates be used?
Yes, templates are provided to support quick creation of alerts and notifications and to ensure consistency across schools and the district. They may be used with any message type. If a template was previously sent, then the same audio will be available. If the message text is modified after loading the template, the audio will be re-recorded so that the text matches the audio.
Is contact email required to use the feature?
It will be possible to send Emergency Alerts and Broadcast Notifications without first configuring the email functionality. If the email feature has not been configured, that section will simply not be visible when composing one of those message types.
Can families opt out of email and calls?
Yes. Families can opt out of email if it has been configured for their district. They will also be able to opt out of receiving automated calls. In both cases, opt outs are ignored for emergency alerts.
Are emergency alerts sent to all contacts?
Yes. Emergency alerts bypass contact opt-outs, including the newly introduced ability to opt out of automated calls. These messages will attempt to send through all available channels to each contact.
Does this package comply with federal and/or state standards?
Yes. Emergency Alerts and Broadcast Notifications are FERPA and COPPA compliant.