Mass Communication with Active Students or Employees

Mass texts and/or emails may be sent to currently enrolled students or current employees.

Important points to remember:

1. 1. Students and employees must have an email address or cellphone number on file to receive alerts.
      1. For an employee to receive a mass alert text they must have their personal cell phone listed in their profile within VIAS.  They will receive the alert to their personal cell phone number.
      2. To text back and forth with a student via the activities section on a student's profile, employees must have a Twilio number. Student's must also have given permission to receive text messages. 
         1. Messages sent to and from the student's profile will NOT go to the employee's personal cell phone.  These communications will appear within VIAS in the student's profile activities section.
   2. Alerts can be sent by:

1. 1. 1. Program: This allows alerts to be sent to specific program populations instead of broadcasting them to everyone. This approach allows for targeted communications regarding deadlines, exam dates, program-specific requirements, etc.
      2. Entire Population:  Simply do not select a program to send to the entire student population

To send a mass email or text alert follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Admin > Holidays/Cancellations
   
2. Select the school and set the date range (current year)
3. Next, scroll down to the 'Send Email/Text Alert' section
   
4. Input the following into the form (shown below):
   1. Communication Medium: Email or Text 
   2. Audience: Students or Employees
   3. Active Date: Date of the message to be sent
   4. Program: Which program to send the alert to (Note: the number of students who will receive the alert is shown in green after the program is selected)
   5. Subject for the alert
   6. Message for the alert
   7. Click 'Send Message' to send the alert
      
5. Previously sent alerts are displayed below the Send Email/Text Alert form.