Audience: District Admins + School Admins
Platform: District Web + School Web
📌 Note: Mobile is not supported for sending Emergency alerts at this time (though sent alerts can be viewed in the TalkingPoints for Admins mobile app).
🚨 Emergency alerts are only included in a partner's TalkingPoints plan with the purchase of the Admin Family Connect Plus package. If you're interested in adding this package, please reach out to partnersupport@talkingpts.org
What Are Emergency Alerts? 🚨
Emergency alerts are high-priority messages schools and districts can send during urgent situations. They are designed to reach families and students quickly across many channels at once.
Emergency alerts are:
📱 Sent by short-code text message instead of a standard 10-digit number
District short code: 84039
School short code: 84046
👨👩👧 Delivered to all family contacts, even if they opted out of regular text messages
📧 Sent as emails (if your district has email turned on)
📞 Sent as phone calls (if your district has calls turned on)
🔔 Sent with a push notification in the Family App
🌐 Can also be sent to social media and your website if those options are set up for your district
🏷️ Labeled with the sender’s name, for example:
[District Name]: School is closed today due to weather
💡 Examples of when to use 🚨 Emergency alerts may include severe weather closures, urgent safety updates, or other time-sensitive alerts.
Who Receives Emergency Alerts 👥
When you send an Emergency alert to a school or region, it goes to:
✅ All family contacts with a phone number
✅ All student contacts (if student messaging is turned on for your district)
✅ App users (they get the text and a push notification)✅ Email addresses on file (if email is enabled)
✅ Call numbers on file (if calls are enabled)
🚫 Families who text STOP to the short code will no longer receive alerts from that number until they rejoin.
📌 Email and call opt-outs are ignored for Emergency alerts — family and student contacts who have opted out of regular messages will still receive an Emergency alert when sent by the district or school.
Permissions + Compliance Messages ⚙️
To keep Emergency alerts safe and compliant, a few things must be in place:
✅ Who can send Emergency alerts?
District Admin and School Admin roles include this permission by default.
This permission can also be added to custom roles by your district.
✅ Compliance message (one-time)
Before the first Emergency alert can be sent, a one-time compliance message must go out to all contacts (family + student).📍 Found in Settings
🔑 Can only be sent by an Admin with Emergency alert permissions
➡️ Families and students must receive this message before they can receive an Emergency alert
📌 For full details, navigate to our detailed Compliance Messaging article.
How to Send an Emergency Alert 📨
When you open Compose in the District or School web product, you’ll see message types at the top:
Message (default)
Broadcast
Emergency Alert
To send an Emergency alert:
Go to the Compose page.
Select the Emergency Alert message type.
Choose your recipients.
You can send Emergency alerts to entire schools or regions.
You cannot send Emergency alerts to individual classes, groups, or a custom list.
Write your Emergency alert message in the Text Message box. ✍️
Character limit: 600 characters.
Review the delivery channels (what will be used):
Text + App (always included) 📱
Email (if enabled) 📧
Call (if enabled) 📞
Social media + Website (if enabled) 🌐
(Optional) Set up email subject, call audio, and external platforms (see next section).
Review your message and channels.
Click Send. Emergency alerts cannot be scheduled — they go out right away.
📌 You can save Emergency alerts as templates for future use to move faster during urgent situations.
Text, Email, Call, and External Platform Options 🔊🌐
Some features work differently for Emergency alerts than for standard messages.
Text Message + Email
For the Text Message and Email parts of the alert:
✅ You can use:
Merge fields (like student name)
View templates
Save template
🚫 You cannot use:
Audio or video
Document or image attachments
Drive links
Polls
Background color
Email behavior:
The Email body uses the same text you write in the Text Message section.
You can set a custom email subject line, similar to the “Also send as email” option for standard messages.
Call Options 📞
For the Call part of the alert (if calls are enabled for your district):
Write your message in the Text Message box.
Click Preview Message to create the audio. The system will:
Use text-to-speech to read the current Text Message.
Show an audio preview widget after the recording is created.
Choose the voice (female or male) for English and translated audio.
📌 In the District product, admins can record their own audio for Broadcast alerts only. Emergency alerts do not allow custom audio recordings; they always use text-to-speech.
External Platforms (Social Media + Website) 🌐
If your district has connected social media and/or a website:
You may see External platforms as an option when sending an Emergency alert.
Supported platforms can include:
Facebook
X (Twitter)
District or school website
Key notes:
These options only appear if your tech or admin team has already configured them.
If the External platforms section is turned on for Emergency alerts, you must select at least one of the options to send via external platforms.
When a message includes Call or External platforms, merge fields are not available (to keep the message consistent everywhere).
🔗 For step-by-step setup and more details, see your help articles on:
Using Broadcast Notifications with Social Media (Facebook and X)
Using Broadcast Notifications on Your Websit
Where to Find Sent Emergency Alerts 📂
Admins can view sent Emergency alerts in several places:
📋 All Messages (District + School product)
📨 Sent box (School product only)
🧵 Student threads (labeled “Emergency”)
From these views, admins can see:
📄 Message content
🏷️ Message type (Emergency, Broadcast, or Standard)
📊 Delivery details (sent, delivered, read) by channel: App, Text, Call, Email
Delivery information can usually be downloaded for records or follow-up.
Family App Experience 📱
Families see Emergency alerts in two main places in the TalkingPoints for Families app:
🏠 Home screen (top section)
Visible for up to 12 hours after an alert is sent
Marked with the Emergency tag
📢 Announcements page
Alerts stay here permanently
Families can view translations in Announcements
Home screen alerts show only in English
Notes + Limits 📝
❌ Families can opt out of Emergency alerts by texting STOP to the short code
84039 for districts
84046 for schools
🔒 Emergency alerts cannot be turned off in the app and override other opt-outs for text, email, and calls.
📊 Delivery details are viewable and can be downloaded.
📞 Emergency alert calls are one-way only — families cannot call back the number.
👉 Looking for Broadcast Notificationsincluding social media and website posts outside of emergencies? Read this article →