When every family needs to receive a critical message quickly, clearly, and in a way they understand, nothing can be left 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 urgent alerts via short code SMS text, email, app notifications, and automated phone calls. Messages are delivered with industry-leading translation in 150+ languages, while TalkingPoints’ text-first model ensures maximum reach for every critical message. Flexible broadcast notifications respect families’ communication preferences while ensuring fast and comprehensive outreach across text, app, email, and calls for your entire district.
One button web and social media posting will launch in Fall 2025. By consolidating communication tools into one trusted platform, 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 |
|
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
| ✅ |
*Coming Fall 2025
FAQs
When will District Emergency Alerts & Broadcast Notifications be available?
District Emergency Alerts & Broadcast Notifications is available as of August 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 launched in August, with additional features—such as one button 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 in TalkingPoints 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: SMS text, call, email, and app by selecting “Send A Message” within the District and School product.
SMS text is sent using a short code number (District: 84039 and School: 84046), 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.
What number do emergency text messages come from?
Messages sent by the district come from short code 84039.
Messages sent by any schools come from short code 84046.
Are there any specific requirements or considerations before using Emergency Alerts, including the short code for text messages?
Yes. Short code text messages (5–6 digits) are subject to legal requirements from wireless carriers. TalkingPoints adheres to these standards and will guide districts through compliance during onboarding.
Before a district or school can send an Emergency Alert, a compliance message must first be sent to all users, notifying them that short code messages will be used via the TalkingPoints platform. As a best practice, districts should introduce this during other back-to-school or start-of-year communications so families understand what to expect and to minimize unnecessary opt-outs.
Here’s an example of what these short code text messages look like. They are found under “Settings”:
In the District product:
Welcome to TalkingPoints: This is a message from [district]. Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel. Msg Freq Varies. Msg&Data Rates may apply.
In the School product:
Welcome to TalkingPoints: This is a message from [school]. Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel. Msg Freq Varies. Msg&Data Rates may apply.
How and when are these compliance messages sent?
Districts and schools choose when to send the compliance message (for example, during Back-to-School). The message goes to all rostered contacts, and no response is required. After that, the system automatically checks every two weeks and sends the message to any newly rostered contacts who have not yet received it. Contacts only receive the compliance message once per short code. However, if a contact opts out after receiving it, they will not receive future texts. These steps follow standard industry practices for short code messaging.
Does the compliance message have to be sent for both district and schools?
Yes. The district short code (84039) and the school short codes (84046) are separate. Each must send its own compliance message so that families are informed in advance before receiving emergency alert texts from that number. Families with students in multiple schools will only receive the message once.
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. The TalkingPoints Data Integration Team will assist with setup, as needed, during onboarding.
What phone number will the automated calls come from?
A phone number will be randomly assigned to districts when the Emergency and/or Broadcast features are enabled. Districts can specify an area code to be used so that calls will appear to be local to families. This is done during the enablement process.
How and where do families manage their communication preferences for Broadcast Notifications, and how is it different from the app/web?
Families manage their communication preferences in the TalkingPoints Family App under “Settings…Personal information,” where they can adjust settings for emails and automated phone calls. Short code text messages, however, can only be managed by replying with the STOP or START keywords to the number. By default, all communication methods are enabled for each contact. Emergency alerts will override preferences for calls and emails, but short code opt-outs cannot be overridden.
How are contact opt-outs handled for Emergency Alerts & Broadcast Notifications?
TalkingPoints adheres to industry standard and mobile carrier compliance rules. There are multiple ways a user may opt out of TalkingPoints messaging, some of which are overridden by emergency alerts. The table below summarizes how the system handles contact opt-outs.
User opts out of… | Standard TalkingPoints Text Message | Broadcast Notification | Emergency Alert |
Standard SMS text messaging (10 digit) | ❌ | ❌ | N/A |
District short code SMS text (84039) | N/A | N/A | ❌ |
School short code SMS text (84046) | N/A | N/A | ❌ |
❌ | ❌ | ✅ | |
Automated call | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Does this package comply with federal and/or state standards?
Yes. Emergency Alerts and Broadcast Notifications are FERPA and COPPA compliant.