ParentSquare is Gates Chili’s school-to-home communication platform. It provides families with email, text and/or app notifications in one central location for all students K-12.

Gates Chili’s move to ParentSquare is the direct result of family input, which has been essential in shaping our efforts to improve communication. Approximately 90% of Gates Chili families access information from the district on a mobile device, so it was imperative to choose a platform that is mobile-friendly.

In addition, while nearly 80% of families say emails and text messages are the most helpful forms of communication, many families reported wanting more consistency in communication between different buildings and levels, as well as more guidance on how to access their student's information. The move to ParentSquare eliminates the need for multiple platforms for communication with families.

Finally, Gates Chili students and families speak 34 different home languages from 23+ home countries. Using ParentSquare will allow all families to receive information in a way that meets their language needs.

Families are automatically added to ParentSquare through the district’s student management system and will receive messages from the school or district even if they have not registered their account. However, parents and guardians are encouraged to register their accounts and verify their contact information to participate in two-way communication features, which are outlined below.

ParentSquare is a comprehensive platform designed to enhance school-to-home communication and will replace several other communication tools beginning in the 2024-25 school year. The type of communication you will receive will depend on the type of situation and the preferences you select when setting up your account.

• Posts: Posts are sent via email and also posted within the ParentSquare system, accessible by smartphone app or desktop computer. Users can choose to receive posts immediately or in a ‘digest’ function. Your student’s school can now easily and securely share pictures and files directly with parents and guardians. This feature enables the district to celebrate achievements, share important documents and create a sense of unity.
• Email: Email will be the primary form of communication through ParentSquare. Email will be used to communicate school-level and districtwide events that are non-emergency in nature. Emergency alerts will be sent immediately via email in conjunction with other forms of communication (like text messages and phone calls).
• Text messages (SMS): Text messages (SMS) will be used for timely notifications, event reminders, emergency situations or school closings. Only parents who have signed up for text alerts will receive text alerts.
• Phone calls: Automated phone calls will only be used in emergency situations.

Beginning in the 2024-25 school year, ParentSquare will be the main source of communication for the district. However, this is a new platform, so please be patient as our staff adapts to their new tools too!

Those invitation links only last for 24 hours. You do not need to wait for a new invitation! You can proceed to the ParentSquare log on page and create your account with the same email address at which you would have received an invite.

Contact details in ParentSquare are synchronized from our secure student information system (SIS) records, which are housed in SchoolTool. There are three ways to find out what information you have on file with the district:

• Sign in to the SchoolTool Parent Portal at gateschili.org/ParentPortalAccess to view contact information and submit any changes.
• Contact the district registrar via email at registrar@gateschili.org
• Contact your student’s school main office

1. Log in to your ParentSquare account.
2. If you have unverified contact information, you will see one or more contact cards under, “Action Required: Confirm Your Account Information.”
3. Note: You can also click “Confirm Contact Info” on your Account page to start the process.
4. Confirm Email and/or Phone. A verification code will be sent to the email or phone number. Enter this verification code in ParentSquare to confirm.
5. Confirm Child(ren).
6. Confirm your name and school affiliations by clicking Yes, this is me.

Your student’s school will likely send you an invitation email or text to join ParentSquare, and you’ll click a link to activate your account. If you are a parent/guardian and the school’s database (SchoolTool) contains your contact details, you can use your email or phone number to set up your account without the invitation.

1. Find the email from your school and click to get started, or:
2. Go to parentsquare.com/signin (or install the ParentSquare app) and follow the prompts to sign up.
3. Use Google single sign-on, your email, or your phone number to set up your account. Your email/phone number must match contact details in the school’s database for this to work!
4. If your contact details aren’t recognized, contact your school administrator to get them added. After they update your information in their database, the new contact details will appear in ParentSquare after the next daily sync, and you will be able to create an account.

Note: After you are added to ParentSquare by your school, you will receive school communications even if you have not registered your account. However, you will need to register your account in order to participate in two-way communications and to access any confidential student-specific documents.

If you are missing a child/school, it may be because:

• Your contact information is inconsistent across the school’s student information system.
• You have more than one ParentSquare account with different contact information.

What to do:

• If you’re missing kids, schools or contact info in ParentSquare, first try confirming your account information.
• If the information is still missing, you may want to try combining your existing accounts.

• If neither of these steps are successful, please reach out to your school by clicking on the question mark icon in the top right corner of the site and selecting “Contact School.”

Sometimes users will need to merge accounts together. Sometimes families with more than one student will have multiple accounts because parent/guardian 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.

What to do:

1. Log in to your main ParentSquare account.
2. Click your name in upper right and select My Account.
3. Click Combine with another account.
4. 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.
5. Log in to the other ParentSquare account you want to combine.
6. 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.

Is your phone number wrong? Do you want to change your primary email? Is your name misspelled? Do you see information for a student who’s not yours?

Contact details in ParentSquare are synchronized from our secure student information system (SIS) records, which are housed in SchoolTool. Once the school updates their official records, changes will automatically be reflected on your account in ParentSquare.

Changes to contact information may be made in several ways:

• Sign into the SchoolTool Parent Portal at gateschili.org/ParentPortalAccess to submit changes
• Contact the district registrar via email at registrar@gateschili.org
• Contact your student’s school main office

You will receive emails from the district at the email address we have on file for you, but you will not receive text messages, app notifications or any phone calls and will not be able to customize any of the message settings as outlined in this FAQ.

Yes! Every parent/guardian has their own account in ParentSquare. Once activated, each parent/guardian can customize notification, language and other settings to meet their individual needs. 

ParentSquare contains personally identifiable information for each student, therefore, only primary contacts who are designated as allowed to receive mail may sign up for a ParentSquare account.

Please contact the main office of your child’s school to be sure we have the correct contact information on file for you.

Your contact details are probably not showing or accurate in the district’s database. ParentSquare accounts sync with school data to make sure only actual parents and guardians are registered and student privacy is maintained.

What to do:

1. Ask the school for help! Confirm that you are in the school’s database and that your contact details match your ParentSquare account.
2. Once the school updates your contact details, in most cases we automatically synchronize once per day, so the change should be reflected within 24 hours or the next working day.

Families will receive regular communication on many topics through ParentSquare:

• Class, school and district news, events or updates
• Student learning and progress in class or specialized services
• Homework for an absent student
• Report cards and progress reports
• Parent-teacher conferences
• Routine safety drills
• Emergency notifications
• and more!

There are two ways that you can customize the way you receive messages from ParentSquare: The type of message you receive and the timing of the message.

You can choose to receive any or all of these message types through ParentSquare:

• Emails
• Text Messages
• App Notifications

For each of the three message types listed above, you can select the timing of when you receive the messages in the following way:

• OFF: You will never receive this message type. (Example, you turn off text messages because you get app notifications.)
• INSTANT: You receive all messages as soon as they are sent.
• DIGEST: You receive all messages in a single notice at 6 p.m. each evening.

Note: You would only receive a phone call in an emergency situation. You will not miss an urgent/emergency message if you select this because those types of messages are set to override the digest setting.

When you are logged in to ParentSquare, in the top, right-hand corner of the page click on your name and then “My Account.”

On the right side of the page, in the area that says “Notification Settings” click “Customize Your Settings”

This will bring you to a page that will allow you to turn your settings for Email, App Notifications, and Text Messages (if enabled) to either: OFF, INSTANT, or DIGEST, as defined above.

No, you will not miss an urgent message if you select the Digest option. The district will override the digest setting in truly urgent or emergency situations or when the information is time sensitive, such as on a snow day. 

You may want to change your message preferences. For example, if you are receiving text messages and app notifications each time a message is sent, perhaps you want to choose one or the other for messages and turn the other one OFF. You may also want to choose the Digest setting for one or more message types so that you receive any messages sent to you that day all at once at 6 p.m. As noted above, you will not miss an urgent message if you choose Digest because time sensitive messages will override that setting.

The ParentSquare app is available for Apple and Android devices. After you download the ParentSquare app, you will login to ParentSquare using the email address or mobile phone that the district has on file for you.

Please check your spam to see if any ParentSquare messages ended up there, and mark them as "Not Spam." Also add donotreply@parentsquare.com to your email contacts so your server recognizes our messages. If you still are not receiving emails, please contact support@parentsquare.com.

On the website, click "Messages" start a direct conversation by clicking "New Message.” On the app, tap "Messages" at the bottom, then the ''write" icon at the top to start a new message. You can search up the first three letters of a name as well.

You can customize your language settings by going to "My Account" and clicking "Change This" under language settings. From there, you can choose any language you prefer from the drop-down menu and you will start to receive content in that language. Here is a help article on how to change your language settings.

To adjust your language settings on ParentSquare and receive posts in your preferred language, follow these steps:

Using a Website Browser:

1. Go to the ParentSquare website and log in.
2. Click on the down arrow next to your name, located in the upper right corner of the page.
3. Select "My Account" from the drop-down menu.
4. In the left-hand sidebar, click on "Language Settings."
5. Choose your preferred language from the drop-down menu.
6. Don't forget to click the "Save" button to confirm your selection.

Using the Mobile App:

1. Open the ParentSquare mobile app on your device.
2. This action will change the language for posts sent to you automatically.

Note: If you wish to change the language within the app's user interface (UI), please visit the following links for detailed instructions based on your device type

• For iOS devices: Change Language on iOS
• For Android devices: Change System Language on Android