🗨️Teacher Messaging

Overview

Teacher Messaging lets admins, parents, and teammates hold private, one-to-one conversations with teachers and staff directly inside WhitePenguin — keeping every school conversation in one place.

Everything happens in the Communication section, which has two tabs:

Each row in the Messages list shows:

• The person's name with a role badge — Staff for teachers and staff members, Parent for parents
• A preview of the last message, or Attachment if the last message was a file
• The date or time of the most recent activity

How to Access

• Admins

  1. Click Communication in the left sidebar.
  2. The Messages tab opens by default, showing every conversation in the school.
  3. Click + New Message (top right) to message a teacher, or click any row to open an existing thread.

• Teachers

  1. Click Communication in the left sidebar.
  2. The Messages tab shows the conversations they are part of.
  3. Teachers can always reply to messages they receive. Starting, editing, or deleting messages depends on their custom role.

• Parents

  1. Sign in to the Parent Dashboard.
  2. Open the Communication section.
  3. Parents can start a new message and reply to anything they receive.

Roles & Access

A teacher can always reply to a message they receive. Everything beyond replying follows the custom role assigned to them:

Admins with full Communication access can message any teacher and any parent in the school.

How to Create a New Message to a Teacher

Click + New Message at the top right of the Communication page, then complete the New Message window:

1. Send To

   • Open the Select recipient type dropdown.
   • Choose Teacher to message a teacher or staff member.

2. Teacher

   • A second dropdown appears once the recipient type is selected.
   • Pick the teacher you want to message (for example, Agodi Uchenna).
   • Admins can select any teacher in the school.

3. Message

   • Type your message in the Type your message… box.

4. Attach image or video (max 3) — optional

   • Click the attachment link to add files — up to 3 per message.
   • Each file appears as a chip below the box. Click the × on a chip to remove it before sending.

5. Click Send Message to send it, or Cancel to discard.

Recipient types available in the Send To dropdown:

Replying to a Teacher

1. Open the conversation from the Messages tab.
2. The thread header shows the teacher's name and their Staff badge.
3. Messages are grouped by day (Today, and so on). Messages you send appear on the right with a ✓ once they are delivered.
4. Type your reply in the Type a message… box at the bottom of the thread.
5. Use the attachment icon to add a file, then click Send.

Sharing Images, Videos & Documents

• You can attach up to 3 files per message.
• Files can be attached from the New Message window or from inside an open conversation.
• Attachments appear in the thread as a preview card — for example, a PDF shows its first page — with your message text underneath as a caption.
• In the Messages list, a message that contains only a file is previewed as Attachment.

Tips

• Use the search bar at the top of the Messages tab to find a teacher's conversation instead of scrolling the list.
• The Staff badge makes it easy to tell teacher conversations apart from parent conversations at a glance.
• Share documents as attachments (PDFs, certificates, reports) rather than retyping the details in the message body.
• Look for the ✓ to confirm your message was delivered.
• Keep one topic per conversation so the full history with that teacher stays easy to follow.
• Use Announcements when the same information needs to reach the whole team at once.
• If a teacher needs to start conversations, not just reply, give their role Create permission for Communication in Settings → Roles & Permissions.

FAQs