SchoolMessenger Reviews and Ratings

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SchoolMessenger was used by our 30,000 student school district in over 53 schools in the Silicon Valley. We started using them in 2009. In the late summer of last year we identified the process to notify parents of how to opt into text messaging so we could better communicate with parents during the pandemic, especially since we were rooted in distance learning to start the year. I found it challenging to communicate with their staff because I could not directly call a person - we were required to call into a central number and each time I'd talk to a different person. As a result, I took copious notes and documented who I talked to every time.

We walked through the steps that SchoolMessenger explained to have parents opt in. We messaged our community like crazy for two straight weeks so we were ready to go with parent opt-ins for our major upload of all parent contact information. SchoolMessenger had previously coordinated with our SIS, as it is a big name company.

About two weeks after the upload, parents notified me that they were able to view information about other students, their contact information, their parents information, etc. We had a major data breach that took place. Their customer service team wasn't helpful and tried to blame it on our database administrators, but research by their staff and our database administrators showed they didn't properly write the code to match the parent contact info during the upload. Our school board was upset. Our parents were very angry. When we asked for a refund and tried to switch to another company, they stopped communicating with us. I do NOT recommend SchoolMessenger at all. Their customer service is awful, the didn't properly protect student and family information, and they played the blame game throughout.

Likelihood to Recommend

SchoolMessenger used to be a good product for home to school communication. However, if it can't properly integrate with big name, run of the mill student information systems, they really have no business being recommended or used by school districts. Allowing data to be released to parents about other students and parents is what every school district needs to protect against. Would not recommend them for any communication that needs to integrate with any other systems. There are plenty of other competitors out there who provide more responsive customer service and support.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use SchoolMessenger to notify parents and staff for general and emergency information. From weather closings to athletic updates to teacher conferences, all calls go out quickly with excellent reporting feedback. The reporting is excellent. You can find out how many people never answered, hung up, listened to part of the message, or listened to the entire message. It has solved many issues for us, including what phone numbers are now disconnected. The fact that it syncs with our SIS keeps our staff from having to do extra work. We do not have to leave our SIS system to send a notification. It has dramatically saved on postage and cutting down on mail going to the wrong address.

Likelihood to Recommend

SchoolMessenger works well for all of our needs. From notifying parents about school closings, potential threats to upcoming events. We used it to keep parents and the community informed of a bond proposal coming up for a vote to add much-needed facilities to our campus. Because of this system, we were able to keep everyone updated and make them feel involved in the process. We felt this system was a big help in getting the bond approved, and now we will have a new stadium and performing arts center.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

School messenger is being utilized in schools to send information to parents. This allows the parents to receive quick emails from the school regarding school events or other important events. It addresses the possible issue of students misplacing papers that go home and also eliminates the needs for paper copies going home.

Likelihood to Recommend

SchoolMessenger is great to send information to parents that can't be sent in a letter home. If a bus is running late, we can send a message out using SchoolMessenger to notify the parents instead of them worrying about their students on the bus. SchoolMessenger is a quick way for our families to be contacted as a whole.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use West (school messenger) for our websites, and parent/emergency notification system. It is used by our entire school district.

Likelihood to Recommend

West is well suited for school districts looking for a single location to manage communications and website hosting. Robocalls, parent notifications and emergency notifications are handled perfectly. West ties into your SIS so it is easy to pull the information. The initial setup, however, is a little time consuming and complicated. After it is set up, it works well.