Guide To SMOS School Communications 2024-2025

SMOS Communications

4 months ago

Here are the most up-to-date details for communications protocols for St. Margaret’s School for the 2024-2025 school year. Below is your guide to knowing where to find all of the school information throughout the year. You’ll find full details about all of the SMOS communications services, including links to each platform, how-to videos, and info about the varying sites and social media channels available to parents.

It is important for all new school families to verify and update your information – especially making sure you have your current email addresses and cell phone numbers in the system, once you’re logged in. (We send texts quite often for reminders. If you didn’t receive one from the school yet, then it means you likely don’t have your current number listed.)

If you are a returning family, then not a lot has changed for you this year. Your existing logins should all still apply. The main changes are that there is an updated method being used by FACTS for emails sent via the Parent Alert, so be sure to check out those details; and we have decided to forgo utilizing the School Reminders group on Facebook, so from now on, just look for all school info on the main School Facebook Page.

If you have any issues, please contact us at school@stmargaretstl.org.

FACTS

As with last year, we will be using a school management system – the FACTS SIS (Student Information System). With FACTS, we will now have information, tuition payments, applications, and – new this year – enrollment, all in one place.
The FACTS Family Portal has been updated with class information and new students – it is a private and secure online platform that will allow you to see academic information specific to your children, while protecting their information from others.
All of your communications details can be found in FACTS – and yes, there is a mobile app as well. FACTS works differently for families in that there is no messaging or inbox in the system… simply, just a directory of students, staff, and family information – one click, and it will open your proprietary email system, and you can email people directly (no more needing to login to a system to check your messages – they’ll come straight to your inbox and you reply directly).
Please note that for families, there is no way to directly email the whole class or grade level via the SIS – however, there is a very simple way to achieve this. CLICK HERE FOR INSTRUCTIONS
Details about how to login and get started are available at the link below. WE NEED ALL NEW FAMILIES TO LOGIN AND UPDATE THEIR PROFILE NO LATER THAN 8/16.

CLICK HERE FOR INFO ABOUT HOW TO USE FACTS

PARENT ALERT

As part of the FACTS system, the school also utilizes a rapid alert system for improved communication with our families. Parent Alert allows us to send out communications via Text, Email, and Voice Messages for all type of events. We send a lot of these types of messages to keep our parents up-to-date with information, and these alerts can be used for many reasons – but will also provide us with a fast efficient way to communicate with our families in case of an emergency.

Any text alerts from our school will begin with “SMOS-MO” and come from 31706, and voice calls will show from (314) 776-7837.

To help you identify school text alerts on your mobile device, each text received will come from the number 31706. To ensure you receive text alerts, do the following from EACH mobile device listed in FACTS:

Text the word START to the number 31706
DO NOT opt out using the STOP method

By providing your consent, you are enrolling in Columbia Academy Parent Alerts. Subscription to the alerts is not required. Message frequency will vary. Message and data rates may apply. You may opt out at any time by texting STOP. https://factsmgt.com/privacy-policy/”

If you decide to opt-out of regular communications, you will still receive emergency alerts from us if the need arises.

NEW THIS YEAR: Email alerts messaged through the Parent Alert system are now sent from noreply@pikmykid.com. If recipients unsubscribe from this email or mark it as spam, our carrier must manually remove these recipients from their unsubscribe lists before they can begin receiving email alerts again. This process takes time, and, as a result, families may miss interim email alerts. Not all emails sent from the School via FACTS are sent through Parent Alert – but those that are scheduled and emergency messages are sent using this protocol. To ensure you receive important alerts, add this address to your contact book so that no messages get sent to SPAM.

Note: Per Telephone Consumer Protection Act we must provide all recipients the option to Opt Out of receiving our alerts. Anytime we send out a text alert you will see “Stop to End”. If you reply “Stop” you will no longer receive our text alerts regardless if we select you as a recipient, unless such messages are marked “Emergency”.

FLOCKNOTE

The School Thursday Newsletter, as well as many other emails sent via SMOS, is published via Flocknote. If you’re not familiar with Flocknote, it is an e-newsletter service geared specifically towards Parishes and Schools (utilized by the St. Louis Archdiocese). With it – all SMOS Parish and School news blasts are housed under one platform.
We will import all parent emails into the system automatically, but you are in control of your own account and what you receive. You can go in and add other mailing groups in the school and parish to your profile and can opt-out at any time. To do so, just go to the Flocknote website to make any changes or read past issues this year.
If you add your cell phone number to your account as well, you will have the ability to choose to receive the newsletter via text rather than email. Also, some last-minute updates might sometimes be sent via text as well.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS FLOCKNOTE

WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA

The School website is a valuable source of information and news for all parents. And if you’re a social media user, the School (and Parish) has a number of social media channels and groups on different platforms. Parents specifically will want to follow the School Facebook Page if they’re Facebook users – this page posts up-to-date information on things happening around the school. (If you don’t use Facebook, no worries – all information posted there is repeated elsewhere – it is only provided on Facebook as a convenience for families, since many utilize the social channel for info purposes.)

CLICK HERE FOR THE SMOS SCHOOL FACEBOOK PAGE

What about all of the other social media options?

There are a number of other groups and pages on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., which parents might be interested in. Some are official – some are “unofficial” (meaning they are not run by the School or Parish, but by parents or other interested groups).

Official:

Unofficial: The PTA maintains a list of Facebook Groups for parents – there are groups for every class, as well as a very popular “Adventure” group. Click here for the most up-to-date list.