- Federal Way Public Schools
- Remind
Remind
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Federal Way Public Schools has implemented a valuable two-way communication tool called Remind.
Remind allows teachers who choose to use text messaging to communicate with parents and students. With Remind:
- Parents can choose how to receive messages – text, email or app. For students, texting is available for ages 13 and over.
- It allows for safe and secure messaging that is available in multiple languages.
- It has a call feature, so teachers may use it to make calls.
As part of this rollout, official accounts will be created for all educators, parents, and students.
What’s important for you to know:
- Before you use Remind, it’s very important that you check ParentVUE to ensure your primary number and primary email address is correct.
- If you have an existing Remind account, and the phone number and email address matcheswith what’s in ParentVUE, then it will merge your existing account.
- If your child’s teacher(s) choose(s) to use Remind, you'll receive an email or text message from Remind.
If you would like to use Remind, follow the steps in the message to claim your account. You will be prompted to accept Remind’s terms and conditions as part of this step. If you'd like to view these in advance, they can be found on Remind’s website at https://www.remind.com/terms-of-service.
If you would like to opt out from using Remind, step by step instructions are available here: https://help.remind.com/hc/en-us/articles/202540968-Opt-out-of-messages.
We're excited to make connecting with our families more engaging!
More resources, including "How To" videos and documents are available here: https://www.fwps.org/Page/7420.
Remind FAQs
Parents
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What email is used for my Remind account?
Remind accounts are generated from the information in ParentVUE (which is part of our student information system). The email address that you have listed in ParentVUE is the one that will be used for your Remind account.
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How will I receive communication through Remind?
Students and families can choose between email, text messages, and app notifications to receive messages sent by teachers. Once logged into Remind from a computer or smart phone, students and families can pick the way they want to receive communications in their settings.
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What type of communication will I receive through Remind?
Teachers will typically use Remind for important announcements and for keeping in touch regarding assignments and other academic reasons.
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Is there a cost associated with using Remind?
Federal Way Public Schools pays for premium Remind accounts for all our users. There is no cost for students, families or teachers associated with using the service itself. However, if you elect to receive messages via text, standard texting rates from your phone’s service provider apply. If you do not wish to incur these costs, you can set your preferences on remind.com to receive email notifications only.
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Who do I contact for technical support?
Please contact the ITS Helpdesk for technical support at 253-945-2111 or HelpDesk@fwps.org.
School Administrators
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Who do I contact to add an additional school administrator to my school?
Please contact Kassie Swenson and Whitney Chiang to request access for an additional school administrator (such as an Assistant Principal).
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Who do I contact for technical support?
Please contact the ITS Helpdesk for technical support at 253-945-2111 or HelpDesk@fwps.org.
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How do I access training for Remind?
Training is available in Canvas for teachers and school administrators.To access the Remind training:- Click on “Professional Learning 2020-21”
- Enter the “District Approved Communication Tools” menu item
- Go to the “Texting Strategy” row and choose the “Remind Text and Voice App PD for School Staff” or click here.
- If you are a School Admin for Remind, you will also want to enroll in the Remind PD for School Admin or Click here.)
- Click on the “Enroll in Course” link to access the PD. The course will now be located for easy access from your dashboard.
At the bottom of each training, you will also be directed to the additional resources for families and scholars that are available on the FWPS Parent Portal.
Teachers/Staff
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What parents are automatically added to Remind?
All custodial parents listed in Synergy, with a unique email address and who are allowed contact, are automatically added to Remind. These parents may choose to opt out of having a Remind account, or from receiving certain types of messages, if they choose to do so.
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I am a teacher and a parent in the district. Can I use the same Remind account for both roles?
Yes - if your parent email in ParentVUE is listed as your district email, you will be able to act as both roles in the same account. To prevent confusion, however, you may wish to keep these roles separate and use a personal email as a parent.
Please note that Remind uses your telephone number as its primary identifier. If you and another member of your household share a phone number (listed in ParentVUE) Remind will merge your accounts.
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I already have a Remind account for my classroom. Do I need to make a separate or new account to use Remind?
No. If you created your old Remind account with your district email address, the two accounts will automatically merge.
If you used a different email address for Remind, you should now login with your district email to activate your new account. If you contact support@remindhq.com, they will be able to merge your two accounts. -
How do I have my Remind messages translated for families that don’t speak English?
Remind has a built-in translation feature. When drafting your message in the app or on the web, you will see a button at the bottom of the screen that says “Translate”. Clicking this allows you to translate your message into one of over 60 languages.
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I am not a classroom teacher. Can I get access to Remind?
The following staff are automatically assigned accounts and classes in Remind:- classroom teachers
- family liaisons
- counselors
- college and career specialists
- credit recovery learning facilitators
- re-engagement advisors
- Student Support Services staff (including SpEd SLPs, Ot/PT, Psychs, Adaptive PE)
- office staff
- instructional coaches
- librarians
- interventionists
- ELL teachers
- nurses
- McKinney-Vento and Native American education district support staff
Coaches and club advisors who wish to use Remind should reach out to their school principal. -
Can I use Class Dojo?
Teachers can continue to use Class Dojo for functionalities that don’t involve messaging (i.e. classroom management).
For messaging purposes, Class Dojo is not safe and secure and doesn’t allow for archival at the district level as required by law. Teachers can use Class Dojo for messaging through May 7, 2020 while making the transition to Remind.
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Who do I contact for technical support?
Please contact the ITS Helpdesk for technical support at 253-945-2111 or HelpDesk@fwps.org.
