Common questions about Virtual Phone setup, permissions, call management, and functionality. These answers cover topics not found in the main instructions, including advanced settings, special use cases, and clarifications about how features work together.
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
Setup and Configuration
Q: How do you set up a Virtual Phone number?
The first time you visit Virtual Phone, you will be prompted with your new Virtual Phone number and your forwarding number.
- Virtual Phone number: a phone number in your school's area code (if a number is available).
- Forwarding number: the phone number associated with your ParentSquare account.
Q: Is the virtual number unique for each staff member?
Yes, it is a unique number for each member. The number on caller ID (and to use to call back) is a Virtual Phone number created within ParentSquare and is not a personal phone number.
Q: Can I save a contact's Virtual Phone information?
Yes, on a mobile device, click Add to Contacts under the person's name to save it to your phone's contact app.
Permissions and Access
Q: Who can a teacher or staff call?
Teachers and staff can call any 10-digit US-based phone number. Within ParentSquare, they have access to phone numbers for parents and staff:
- In class(es) they are rostered to.
- In group(s) they own or manage.
Q: Can staff call other staff? Or similar – principal to teacher?
Yes.
Q: Can I call a landline using Virtual Phone?
Yes, you can place calls TO a landline using Virtual Phone. You cannot, however, use a landline to initiate a call using Virtual Phone.
Office Hours and Call Management
Q: Can you limit the times a parent can call you?
Yes. If your Office Hours are set, Virtual Phone will respect them and not ring outside of those hours.
Q: What happens if I don't answer a call to my Virtual Phone number during my office hours?
The call will be forwarded to the number you selected when you set up your virtual phone account.
- If you do answer, you will be told who is calling and asked to press a button to connect the call.
- If you don't press the button within a few seconds, the caller will be directed to your Virtual Phone voicemail.
- If you don't answer, the caller will be directed to your Virtual Phone voicemail.
Q: Why is my virtual phone number calling me?
All inbound calls will come from your Virtual Phone Number, and will look like you are calling yourself. This is expected behavior; we do this to hide your personal number from the caller, essentially forwarding the call from Virtual Phone to your mobile device. When you check the call log, you will be able to see the actual phone number.
Q: What if I miss a call? How will I know?
When you receive a missed call or a voicemail on Virtual Phone, a notification will appear in the ParentSquare app. These notifications are displayed under More Communicate Virtual Phone. A red icon with a count will indicate the number of missed calls or voicemails. Tap on the missed call to listen to your voicemail.
Call Recording and Documentation
Q: How will people know the call is being recorded?
- 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, the call recorded message is translated to: Afrikaans, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Danish, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil & Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, and Welsh.
- The person placing the phone call will need to consent by clicking Continue on the pop-up message.
- Web:
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App:
- Web:
Q: What is the maximum number of minutes a call can be?
There are no time limits to calls or recordings at this time.
Q: How long do we archive the call logs/recordings/transcripts?
We retain this data like any other communications data in the system.
Reports and Call Logs
Q: Is there a view where I can see all the calls I made that day (as a teacher)?
Yes. When you're in Virtual Phone, click Report on the left side. This is the user-level dashboard. If you're an admin, you'll see the school or district dashboard.
Q: Where does an admin view calls for teachers or other users?
When you're in Virtual Phone, click Report on the left side. If you're an admin, you'll see the school or district dashboard.
Q: How can I see a list of all my voicemails?
In the Virtual Phone Report, sort the Status column to see a list of voicemails. Click the link in the Voicemail column to listen.
Block Calls
Q: Can you block a number from a parent/guardian?
Yes, you can! You can block spam and unwanted calls at your discretion. In the call log, a blocked icon will appear next to that number. You can unblock numbers at any time.
Voicemail
Q: Can I delete a voicemail?
Voicemail cannot be deleted, ensuring your communication record remains intact and secure.
Q: How do I leave a voicemail to a Virtual Phone user?
After the Virtual Phone User does not pick up call, select "1" on your device to be directed to the user's voicemail.
Features and Functionality
Q: Will Virtual Phone allow for mass phone calls to multiple parents?
No, but conference calling is on our roadmap. Use Smart Alerts to send out mass phone calls to multiple parents.
Q: Can a virtual phone number receive text messages?
No, texts sent to a virtual phone number will not be received. The sender will get an auto-reply to that effect.
Q: Can parents see their call history with their child within ParentSquare?
Not at this time. They can use their phone to see past calls.
Technical Issues
Q: Some parents see incoming calls marked as spam. Is there a way to avoid this?
As a best practice, we recommend that teachers and staff share their Virtual Phone number with families via a post and at in-person touch points like back-to-school night and ask families to save the number in their contacts. Unfortunately, the caller's carrier (parents in this case) dictates what shows up on the caller ID. This information may get updated over time when the carriers update their caller ID information.
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