Allowing Parents to View Chats That Were Sent to Their Child

Some states are now requiring messaging vendors like BrightArrow to allow parents to view any communications that were sent to their child. As part of BrightArrow's ongoing diligence to remain compliant with state and federal laws, parents can now request read-only access to any Chat messages that were sent to their student. 

Best practices for compliance

States that require parents to be able to view all messages sent to their student, such as Kansas with the law Sub for HB 2299, are supported by BrightArrow's offerings. 

When a BrightArrow user sends a regular message to students such as an email, text, or voice call, they should also send the message to parents to remain compliant with the law. In many cases, BrightArrow users are messaging the parents directly on behalf of their student. However, some BrightArrow customers may have the option to send emails, texts, or phone calls directly to students. To meet compliance for those cases, BrightArrow users should include parent lists and student lists when sending a message. 

When a BrightArrow user sends a Chat message, they may be sending the message only to the student. For example, a coach may send a Chat to students to remind them about a practice. Or a teacher may send a Chat to students to remind them about something they need to bring to class the next day. In these cases, only the student will receive the Chat. To remain compliant with any laws, parents now have the option to view Chat messages regarding their student on a read-only basis. This way, parents can see what their students see without actually joining the conversation.

Guiding parents on how to link their child's login to the parent's account

If your organization uses BrightArrow's Chat feature to engage in two-way communications with students, each student's parent will need to complete a few basic steps in order to view Chat conversations that their student is involved in. If you need to guide parents on how to view Chat messages that were sent to their children, follow the instructions below. Note that in order for a parent to view Chats sent to their student, they will need to retrieve a verification code from their student. 

1. Both the parent and the student will need to download the BrightArrow ParentHub app and sign up for an account to engage in Chat conversations. 
2. For the parent to enable their ability to see messages that were sent to their child, they will login to the ParentHub app. 
3. The parent should navigate to the Chats tab in the app. 
4. In the upper right corner, they will tap on the "people" icon. 

5. A window will pop-up. It will show the parent's name as they've entered it when signing up for the app. The parent will tap "Manage Dependents."

6. The Manage Dependents page will open. The parent will tap "Add Login Phone or Email."

7. In the pop-up window, the parent will enter the phone number or email address that their student uses to login to the ParentHub app, then tap OK.

8. For security purposes, BrightArrow will now send a verification code to the student's email address or phone number that was entered in the previous step. The parent must get that verification code from their child and enter it in the app. The parent will see a pop-up window that tells them where the verification code was sent and what to do next. They will tap OK in that pop-up window to verify they read the instructional message there. 

9. The phone or email address entered will now show on the parent's screen with the options "Verify" and "Remove" next to it. The parent will tap "Verify."

10. In the pop-up window, the parent will enter the code that their student received to their phone or email, then tap OK.  

11. The phone or email will now show as "Verified."

12. For each additional child, the parent should again tap the "Add Login Phone or Email" and repeat the above steps to enter and verify each student's login. 

Guiding parents on how to view their student's Chats

Once the parent has finished linking their student's account to the parent's own login, the parent should follow the steps below to view their child's Chat messages. 

1. From the parent's account they will navigate to the Chats tab, then tap on the people icon in the upper right of the screen. 

2. There they will see their name along with their child's name. They should tap on the name of the child they want to view Chat messages for. 

3. The child's Chat messages will now show. The parent can tap on any Chat message to view the full conversation with read-only access. The parent will not be able to reply within the Chat. 

Will the parent be able to join the student's Chat conversation?

No, the parent will not be able to take part in the student's Chat conversation. They will only be able to view it. If the parent tries to reply within the student's Chat conversation, they will get a pop-up with the error as shown below.