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. 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 with a push notification in the Family App
🏷️ 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 Them
✅ All family contacts with a phone number
✅ All student contacts (if student messaging is turned on)
✅ App users (they get the text and a push notification)
🚫 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 sending Emergency alerts— family and student contacts who have opted out of messages will still receive an Emergency alert when sent by the district or school.
⚙️ How to Enable Emergency Alerts with Compliance Messages
Permissions to manage and send Emergency alerts are automatically included for District Admin and School Admin roles.
These permissions can also be added to custom roles.
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 Admins with Emergency Alert permissions
➡️ Families and students must receive this message before they can receive an alert
📌 Review all details about sending Compliance Messages here.
📨 Sending an Emergency Alert
Go to Compose
Select Emergency message type
Write your message ✍️
Review delivery methods:
Text + App (always included) 📱
Call (always included) 📞
Email (if enabled) 📧
Confirm before sending ✅
📌 You can also save Emergency alerts as templates for future use.
If a district or school has the ability to send Emergency alerts and a district or school admin has the ability to send Emergency alerts, their compose modal will now include the option of selecting an Emergency alert. See screenshot below:
🔊 Call + Audio Options
When sending an Emergency alert with calls:
🗣️ Text-to-speech: choose a male or female voice
🎧 Preview (optional): listen before sending. If skipped, the system records directly from the message text when you send, per the screenshot below:
📌 In the District Product, admins can also record their own audio for Broadcast Alerts only. Emergency alerts do not allow custom recordings.
📂 Where to Find Sent Emergency Alerts
📋 All Messages (District + School Product)
📨 Sent box (School Product only)
🧵 Student threads (labeled “Emergency”)
Admins can also see:
📄 Message content
🏷️ Message type (Emergency, Broadcast, or Standard)
📊 Delivery details (sent, delivered, read) by channel: App, Text, Call, Email
📱 Family App Experience
Families see alerts in two places:
🏠 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, but Home screen alerts show only in English
📝 Notes
❌ Families can opt out by texting STOP to the short code (84039 for districts, 86046 for schools)
🔒 Emergency alerts cannot be turned off in the app, and they override other opt-outs
📊 Delivery details are viewable, and can be downloaded
📞 Emergency alert calls are one-way only (families cannot call back the number)
👉 Looking for Broadcast Notifications? Read this article →