Announcements

Announcements let you share news, updates, and important information with parents and staff at your center. You can target announcements to specific programs or classrooms, attach files, and optionally send an SMS alert when published.

How to Access

Open the Communication hub and click the Announcements tab (selected by default for admins). You can also click the + button in the top-right corner to create a new announcement directly.

Announcements List

The announcements list shows all announcements at your center. Each card displays the title, a content preview, the date created, the audience, and scope badges (Center, Program, or Classroom).

Filtering and sorting:

• Status tabs — Filter by All, Published, Draft, or Archived. Each tab shows a count.
• Search — Type in the search bar to find announcements by title or content.
• Sort — Sort by Date Added (default), Title, or Status. Toggle ascending/descending with the arrow button.

Creating an Announcement

Click the + button on the Announcements tab to open the create form.

Recipients and Scope

• Choose recipients — Select who should receive the announcement: Parents and Staff (default), Parents, or Staff.
• Limit the scope — Choose how broadly to send:
  • Center — Everyone at your center (default)
  • Program — Only people in a specific program
  • Classroom — Only people in a specific classroom
• An info banner confirms the targeting: "This message will be sent to recipients in the selected scope"

Message Content

• Title — A short headline for your announcement (required)
• Message — Use the rich text editor to write your announcement. The toolbar supports bold, underline, italic, headings, lists, and links.

Attachments

Click Choose files to attach documents or images. Allowed file types include JPG, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC, and DOCX (as well as GIF, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, and TXT). Maximum file size: 25 MB per file.

SMS Alert

Toggle Send SMS alert when published to also notify parents via text message. When enabled, a text area appears where you enter the SMS body (up to 480 characters). A counter shows the character count and number of SMS segments.

Click Save & Continue to save the announcement as a draft and go to the detail page, where you can publish it.

Viewing an Announcement

Click any announcement in the list to open its detail page.

The detail page shows:

• Status badge — Draft, Published, or Archived
• Scope badge — Center, Program, or Classroom
• Metadata — Date created, audience (All, Parents, Staff), and reading time
• Full content — The complete announcement with rich text formatting
• Attachments — Download any attached files
• SMS delivery status — If SMS was enabled, shows the count of sent, failed, and pending messages (visible only after publishing)

Status Lifecycle

Announcements follow a status lifecycle with actions available at each stage:

• Draft — Not visible to recipients. You can Publish, Edit, or Delete it.
• Published — Visible to recipients. You can Archive, Edit, Send Test, or Delete it. The Send Test action sends the announcement to your own account for review.
• Archived — Hidden from recipients. You can Republish, Edit, or Delete it.

What Parents See

Parents see published announcements in the Announcements tab of their Communication page. They can read the full content and download attachments, but cannot see draft or archived announcements, status badges, or scope information.

Frequently Asked Questions