Planning for Urgent Communications: Your school website and connected communication tools form the foundation of an effective communication plan. This guide provides a rapid reference for communicating urgent events, safety alerts, weather closures, and critical updates to families across all Edlio products.
Communicating Urgent Information: Multi-Surface Strategy
During urgent situations—such as severe weather closures, facilities issues, or time-sensitive campus updates—families need immediate, accurate, and consistent information. Edlio provides a multi-surface communication strategy so administrators can update the public website and broadcast directly to parents across mobile apps, push alerts, SMS text, voice calls, and email.
Step 1: Establish Your Central Information Hub (The Website)
Always anchor urgent communication to a single source of truth on your school website. This prevents conflicting rumors and gives your community a stable, authoritative page to check for ongoing developments.
Create an Urgent Information Page: Create a dedicated page in your CMS under Pages (e.g., Weather Updates & Campus Status) with complete details, timelines, contact resources, and FAQs. See Manage Pages Overview.
Keep Content Current: As situations evolve, update this central website page first before dispatching outbound alerts.
Step 2: Direct Traffic from Your Homepage
Once your central page is ready, make it immediately visible to anyone visiting your school homepage:
Homepage Alert Banner: In your CMS dashboard, create a news story under News & Alerts and designate it as a Homepage Alert. This renders an unmissable, high-contrast banner across the very top of your website header linking directly to your urgent information page. See Set up Homepage Alert.
Featured News Story: Publish an urgent news article on your homepage with a clear, descriptive headline (e.g., Urgent Weather Alert: Early Dismissal). See Add a News Story.
Homepage Widget (Sticky Button): For multi-day urgent responses, add a prominent Homepage Button Widget that floats over the homepage and links directly to your central hub. See Homepage Widgets Overview.
Step 3: Broadcast Outbound Alerts (Based on Your Products)
Never rely on parents checking the website alone during an urgent event. Use outbound communication channels to reach families wherever they are. How you send outbound alerts depends on which Edlio communication products your school licenses:
Option A: Edlio Mass Communication (Full Multi-Channel Broadcast)
If your school or district licenses Edlio Mass Communication, you have the fastest and most comprehensive broadcast tool available directly in the EdlioApp dashboard:
Simultaneous Multi-Channel Dispatch: Send automated voice calls, SMS text messages, emails, mobile app push notifications, and social media posts all in a single broadcast wizard.
Targeted SIS Audiences or Entire Community: Instantly target all parents, specific schools, grade levels, bus routes, or custom staff groups synced nightly from your SIS.
Cross-Posting from CMS News: When you publish an urgent news article in the CMS, click the Mass Communications tile on the post-publish screen to immediately transfer the content to your broadcast dashboard.
Learn More: Review How to Create a New Message in Mass Communication and Cross-Posting CMS News to Mass Communications.
Option B: Edlio Mobile App (Newsfeed & Conversations)
If your school uses the standalone Edlio Mobile App, you can leverage both public news distribution and direct two-way messaging:
Automatic Newsfeed Integration: Any urgent news story published on the CMS website automatically syncs into the mobile app's Newsfeed instantly without duplicate entry.
Direct Staff & Parent Messaging via Conversations: Authorized staff and administrators can dispatch direct two-way or one-way messages to parents, students, and classroom groups through Conversations. See Conversation Settings: Administrator Guide.
Staff & Admin Mobile Messaging: Authorized administrators can compose urgent announcements and send targeted push notifications directly from their smartphones using the mobile app. See How to Send a Message from the Mobile App.
Option C: School News App / CMS Push Notifications (Website-Only Clients)
If your school uses the Edlio CMS website with the free School News App and does not have Mass Communication or the standalone Edlio Mobile App:
Dedicated Push Alert Receiver: The School News App serves specifically to receive real-time push alerts sent from your website's Push & Social tool. (It does not contain in-app newsfeeds, event calendars, teacher directories, or direct messaging).
Instant Push Notifications: Under Communications > Push & Social in your CMS admin menu, you can compose a real-time push alert with a 65-character Subject, a 160-character Message, and an optional direct Link to your website's urgent update page.
Zero Quota & No Contact Lists Required: Push notifications automatically broadcast to every user who has downloaded the School News App and connected to your school with notifications enabled. No phone lists or credits are needed.
Automatic Translation: Incoming push alerts are automatically translated by the client app into the recipient's preferred phone language.
Step-by-Step Guides: See the administrator setup guide Push Notifications Guide: Sending Mobile Alerts via School News App and the family onboarding guide How to Download and Set Up the Edlio School News App.
Option D: CMS Newsletters (Unlimited Email for All Websites)
Every Edlio CMS website includes unlimited email sending via Newsletters under the Communications menu.
Dispatch detailed situation updates, superintendent letters, and safety plans directly to parent and staff email lists using your saved Contact Lists. See Newsletters Overview and Add Your Recipients.
⚠️ Notice on Legacy Broadcasts: The legacy CMS Broadcasts feature (voice calls, SMS text, and auto-notices configured via old contact lists) is discontinued and superseded by modern Edlio Mass Communication. If your school currently relies on legacy broadcasts, contact [email protected] to transition your school to the modern multi-channel platform. See Transition Guide: Moving from CMS Broadcasts to Mass Communication.
Teachers: Keep Classroom Pages & Posts Current
During extended closures or remote learning scenarios, individual teacher pages and class sections provide families with direct instructions regarding academic continuity. When teachers log into the CMS dashboard with Standard User privileges, their workspace focuses on Personal Content:
Publish Classroom Posts: Teachers click Edit Personal Content > Edit Posts (or navigate to their class section) to share assignment directions, digital learning links, and office hours. See Posts Overview and Add, edit and delete posts.
Daily Subscriber Digests: Parents subscribed to teacher pages automatically receive a daily summary digest of new posts and assignments at 5:30 PM local school time without the teacher needing to manually send an email. See Subscription Schedule and Delivery Times.
Classroom Calendar Due Dates: Teachers click Edit Personal Content > Edit Calendar to keep project deadlines and virtual class meeting schedules accurate.
Direct Teacher Mass Messaging: If your school licenses Edlio Mass Communication, administrators can authorize teachers to dispatch direct email, SMS, and voice alerts to their specific classroom rosters. See Send a Message to a Classroom Group.
Urgent Communication Quick Checklist
Channel / Action | Best Used For | Required Product |
Central Info Page | Single source of truth with complete details and FAQs | Edlio CMS Website |
Homepage Alert Banner | Instant, unmissable banner at top of website linking to details | Edlio CMS Website |
Mass Comm Voice / SMS / Email | Instant multi-channel broadcasts & alerts to all SIS contacts | Edlio Mass Communication |
School News App Push Alert | Instant push alerts to all mobile app users (no quotas/lists) | Edlio CMS + School News App |
CMS Newsletters | Unlimited formatted email updates to staff and parent lists | Edlio CMS Website |
Edlio Mobile App (Newsfeed & Conversations) | Auto-synced newsfeed stories and direct messaging via Conversations | Edlio Mobile App |
Support & Product Guidance
To check which communication features are currently active for your school, or to upgrade your district to Edlio Mass Communication or the Edlio Mobile App, email [email protected]. For immediate technical assistance during school operations, open a ticket with Edlio Support's Eddy AI assistant (see Getting Help).
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