Your school messages matter—and we want to make sure they’re delivered and seen. While SMS (text) messaging may seem simple on the surface, there’s a lot happening behind the scenes to ensure messages reach families reliably. We’re committed to helping schools navigate these details with confidence.
To support that goal, we’ve made several updates to our SMS procedures. Below, you’ll find updated best practices designed to help you communicate with families more effectively and get the most out of your text messaging efforts.
Text Smarter:
✌️ Wins & Warnings ⚠️
Win
Keep messages short
Keep texts short and to the point, 160 or fewer characters. Any time it can be way less than 160, even more powerful. It's just a text message.
This is important for multiple reasons:
- Some carriers will not send messages over 160 characters or will break messages up, which can cause them to be confusing to parents.
- Most parents will skim a text message if it is too long and will end up not getting the important information intended in the text.
Warning
Don't over-message
Use SMS for time-sensitive information only. Messaging families too often may cause them to opt out of messages from your school, meaning they will miss important information down the road.Â
Tips to help prevent over-messaging:
- If what you are sending can wait, consider putting it in a weekly email. You can compile the email in myInbox and leave it saved as a draft until you are ready to send.
- Send an email with all the details for the week, and one text with it to alert families that there is an important email to be read.
- Put yourself in the perspective of the parent, how many text messages are too many from the school? Hint: a school really shouldn't need to send more than one, maybe two texts in a day, and not more than three to four in a week.
Win
Ask families to save your number
Sometimes phone carriers will block unrecognized numbers. One great tip? At the beginning of the school year, send a friendly text inviting families to save your school’s SMS number. That way, they'll recognize your messages throughout the year.
Be sure to clarify that the school's SMS number is different than the main office number. Parents can have both saved to their phones!
Win
Send yourself a test
One of the easiest ways to check for clarity and accuracy is to send yourself, or a coworker, a test text. This allows you to see how the text looks, check links, dates, times, and other details.Â
Pro-tip! Put on your parent hat. Is it obvious what the text message means? Does it include your school name? Does it make sense if the person receiving the text knows nothing about the subject of the message?
Warning
Don't put a link in every message
Operators look for flags that SMS might be junk or spam. Sometimes, when there is a link in every single message, it can look like junk to the operator. It's ok to send links; they can be very useful, but be thoughtful as to when they are needed and when they aren't
Win
Create short links
There are several services that you can sign up for that will create a shortened URL for you to include in your message. This can help you stay under the 160-character limit for SMS.Â
From Zapier: The 7 best URL shortener services:
Win
SMS Checklist
Before you hit send on an SMS, check:
- Does it include your school name?
- Is it clear?
- Does it have all the important information (dates, times)?
- Is it necessary, or could it be included in an upcoming email?
- How does it look when it's received by someone who doesn't know anything about it contents?
- Have you already sent an SMS today? If so, how many?
- How many SMS have you sent this week?
Frogtummy SMS Limits
Non-Emergency SMS sent to large groups (100+ recipients) from any module, the following limits will apply:
- 160 character limit
- 3 SMS per day
- 10 SMS per week
Emergency SMS sent from myInbox:
- No limit on frequency
- 320 character limit
- Messages will say EMERGENCY – at the beginning of the text.
One-off or small-group SMS (fewer than 100 recipients) from any module
- No limit on frequency
- 160 character limit
These messages will continue sending at their normal frequency. Most are already under 160 characters, though a few exceed it:
- Low lunch balance notifications
- Fees due notifications
- Absence notifications
- Lottery notifications
Live Working Group Discussion 🗣️
SMS Opt-in FAQ
There are several ways someone can opt in to text messages from your school:
- Each school has a unique URL provided by Frogtummy where parents can quickly opt in to text messaging. This option will send all school-related messages, such as emergencies and school events.
- Parents can create a Frogtummy account using their Aspire contact email. This option allows the user to customize their preferences, such as Yes for Emergency, No for school events. It also lets them see their parent portal and whatever Frogtummy modules your school has.
- Any time a contact is added to myInbox or new parent is imported from Aspire, we will send them a text invite to receive school-related SMS.
- Any time a parent submits a lottery application, they are opted-in to receive both school-related and emergency SMS.
- Parents can text STARTÂ to your school SMS number. They will only receive texts if they are matched in your database of custodial parents or myInbox contacts (see FAQ question below).
*All contacts are automatically opted-in for emergency SMS. They can unsubscribe if they wish (see FAQ question below).
SMS messages are sent only to:
- Custodial parents uploaded to your system
- Staff members in myInbox
- Contacts in myInbox
- Prospective parents applying through myLottery
If someone opts in but is not one of the contacts above, they will not receive any messages.
Here’s how this works behind the scenes: when someone uses the opt-in link, we match their phone number to custodial parents and myInbox contacts in your system. If there’s no match, they are not opted in and will not receive SMS messages.
If a custodial parent who was opted in, is removed from Aspire, they are automatically removed from our system and will no longer receive SMS messages.
Yes.
Based on FCC Declaratory Ruling 16-88 (August 4, 2016), schools may send emergency SMS messages related to health or safety without prior SMS opt-in. These messages are considered essential for student safety.
How Emergency SMS works in Frogtummy
- All custodial parents receive Emergency SMS unless they have previously replied STOP.
- This applies to all custodial parents imported from Aspire.
- Even if a custodial parent creates a Frogtummy account and chooses not to opt in to general school SMS, they will still receive Emergency SMS messages.
How to opt out (optional)
Custodial parents may unsubscribe from Emergency SMS in one of two ways:
1. Reply STOP to the school’s SMS number
- This unsubscribes the parent from all SMS messages from the school
- Reply START to re-enable SMS in the future
2. Through a Frogtummy account
- Go to Contact Preferences
- Unsubscribe from Emergency Text Messages
It depends on how they unsubscribed:
- Disabled "Emergency Text" in Contact Preferences: Re-subscribe by selecting "Emergency Text" in Contact Preferences.
- Replied STOP to your school SMS number: The only way to re-subscribe is to reply START to your school SMS number.
- Blocked your school SMS number: If a contact has blocked your number, they will need to unblock it on their phone to receive SMS again.
Kandyce asked how other schools have encouraged parents to create an account and if they had seen success with that. Multiple schools had suggestions and experiences, including:
- Start with parents in your youngest grade
- Encourage account creation when a student is first admitted to the school, ie, as part of the registration process.
- With older students, remind them to have their parents create a Frogtummy account to excuse their absences, pay for lunch, etc. (This varies by which Frogtummy modules the school has.)
- Have an account creation table at events like parent-teacher conferences and back-to-school activities. Have computers available for parents to use to create an account. Include a QR code that parents can sign to create an account and/or to opt-in to messaging.
- Use an emergency-focused campaign to encourage parents to create an account and make sure they are signed up for SMS messaging for emergencies.
No. Their Frogtummy account may still exist and show an opt-in preference, but they will not receive messages unless they are an active custodial parent or a myInbox contact.
Having a Frogtummy account simply allows us to track opt-in preferences—it does not grant access to SMS messages on its own.
Watch Recording
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