Virtual Phone gives staff members a dedicated phone number for calling parents and managing all school communication without using personal cell phones. You can make calls to any 10-digit US number, track conversations with call logs and notes, and receive voicemails with automatic transcription. All communication stays within ParentSquare while keeping your personal contact information private.
Who can use this?
School and District Admin, Principals and Staff and Teachers with Virtual Phone permission
Before getting started
- Virtual Phone must be enabled for your school
- Admins can contact ParentSquare support to enable Virtual Phone
What is Virtual Phone?
With Virtual Phone, staff members can use a virtual phone number instead of a personal cell phone number. You can access call logs, notes, recordings, and transcriptions. You don't need to look up phone numbers and numbers are verified through the contact verification process in ParentSquare.
User Access by Role
School and District Admin and Principals: Full Virtual Phone access with oversight capabilities. Can view call activity, manage permissions, and configure default settings.
Teachers: Virtual Phone permission enabled by default. Can make and receive calls, manage call logs, and set office hours.
Staff: Virtual Phone permission disabled by default but can be enabled by admin. When enabled, access level matches teachers.
Parents: Receive calls from staff Virtual Phone numbers. Can save numbers as contacts and return calls as needed.
Note: Any custom role can include the Virtual Phone permission.
How Virtual Phone Works - Staff
- Each Virtual Phone user is automatically assigned a dedicated phone number customized with the school's area code (if available).
- Call parents, staff, group participants, and any US-based 10-digit number with your smartphone and computer. Search by either the phone number, the contact's name, or the student's name. Suggestions will pull up once you type in up to 3 digits or characters.
- Add notes and select the reason for each call.
- Teachers and staff have oversight of their own conversations, and admin can easily access call logs as needed.
- All inbound calls will show as coming from your Virtual Phone Number, appearing as if you're calling yourself. This hides your personal number by forwarding calls from the Virtual Phone to your mobile device. You can check your call logs to see who actually called.
- Checklists for Virtual Phone setup: Admin and Teachers. Click each to download.
How It Works - Families
- Incoming calls come from the staff member's dedicated Virtual Phone number.
- Parents and guardians can save the number as a contact and call back as needed.
- If calls are returned outside of office hours, callers are sent directly to voicemail and can leave a message for the staff member.
Key Features
Accurate Contact Information
- When making a call, phone numbers are already validated by the contact verification process built into ParentSquare so you know you are calling the most up-to-date contact info.
Call Logs and Documentation
- The system automatically documents and saves each call record which can be easily referenced later or for reporting purposes.
- Staff members can add notes and choose from a list of predefined reasons for each call.
Call Recording and Transcription
- Schools can choose to turn on/off call recording and transcription.
- When call recording is enabled, both the caller and recipient will hear a message that says: "This call is being recorded and is from your student's school. By continuing, you consent."
- For multilingual families, this call recorded message is translated into 25+ languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, French, and others.
Office Hours Integration
- Enable Office Hours to control when you receive calls. Calls outside of your designated hours will go directly to voicemail, helping maintain work-life boundaries while ensuring no communication is lost.
Voicemail Capabilities
- Calls are forwarded to your designated number. You'll be told who is calling and asked to press a button to connect. If no button is pressed, the call goes to voicemail.
- Listen to voicemails from the web or mobile app. Automatic transcription available.
- Add notes and categorize voicemail messages.
- Record custom voicemail greetings (web browser only).
- Voicemails cannot be deleted, ensuring communication records remain intact.
Call Blocking
- Block spam and unwanted calls at your discretion. You can block numbers at two levels:
- Individual level: Block calls for yourself only
- School-wide level: Block calls for the entire school
- Blocked numbers appear with a blocked icon in call logs. You can unblock numbers at any time and must provide a reason for blocking.
Comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.