Chat for school leaders: Include students in Chat communication

As of April of 2025, it is now possible to turn on the ability for students to chat and direct message with school staff and parents while still maintaining the highest levels of security and safety for all involved. Students will be placed into the Chat Participant role, along with parents and guardians.

This article will show you how it works!

In this Article

• Allow students to participate in Finalsite Chat
  • Step 1: Decide student access levels
  • Step 2: Configure chat with your Finalsite team
  • Step 3: Cross check room membership 
• Chat for students FAQs

Allow students to participate in Finalsite Chat

• Students can access and communicate via Finalsite Chat with the Finalsite Mobile App or web-based/URL platform using their school credentials. 
• All chat interactions continue to be logged and monitored by school administrators. Inappropriate content (e.g. profanity, harmful messages) is automatically flagged and moderated. Learn more in the article, "Chat for school leaders: Moderate your chat feature." 
• Students may have chat access revoked or restricted based on disciplinary actions configured in the CMS.

Step 1: Decide student access levels for Chat and Direct messaging

Decide with your team what level of access you'd like your students to have in 

• Students can initiate chats or simply participate.
• Students can engage in group chats with both Parents and Teachers, or only with Teachers, if desired.
• Students can have very limited or restricted direct messaging capabilities.
• Learn more about what is possible in the Roles and permissions table. 

Step 2: Configure chat with your Finalsite team

• Are you still in implementation? Tell your team that you'd like to configure your chat settings to include students.
• If your site is live, Submit a request to support to get started. 

Step 3: Cross check room membership 

Confirm the room membership and chat roles in the Mobile App module in the Chats explorer tab.

• Learn more in the article, "Chat for school leaders: Manage your Chat feature in the module" in the sections, "Channel Explorer tab: Browse and manage all communication" and "Members tab: Manage all users and roles."

Chat for students FAQs

Who can turn on the ability for students to be able to access Finalsite Chat?
Your Finalsite team, whether support or implementation team, will enable student access to chat on your behalf.

What chatroom configurations are available for students?

• Student-Teacher Chatrooms (for academic support or classroom discussions).
• Parent-Teacher-Student Chatrooms (if enabled, allows group conversations with all roles).

Can students send direct messages?
Yes, if you want them to. No, if you limit them in the settings. There are also different levels of access:

• Students can message only teachers.
• Students can message parents or teachers (if permitted by school policy).
• Students can participate in group chats but not initiate them (optional restriction).

How are students rostered into chatrooms?
You can manage chat membership in Channel Explorer and the Members tab. Finalsite support can help you manage any rostering of students. Learn more in the article, "Chat for school leaders: Manage your Chat feature in the module" in the sections, "Channel Explorer tab: Browse and manage all communication" and "Members tab: Manage all users and roles."

How does chat moderation work for students?
Chat moderation will be the same as what has already existed for parents and staff to chat. Learn more in the article, "Chat for school leaders: Moderate your chat feature." 

• All student messages are monitored and logged for safety.
• Profanity filters automatically block inappropriate language.
• Toxic or flagged content is reviewed by administrators.
• Moderation tools allow admins to mute, block, or remove students from chatrooms if needed.

Can students report inappropriate messages?
Yes, students can report messages that they find inappropriate. Reported messages are flagged for admin review. Share this article with your families to help them know how it works: "Chat for families: Understand security and privacy in Finalsite Chat" especially the section, "How to report inappropriate communication."

What happens when a student is blocked or muted?

• Blocking a student: They can no longer send messages but can still see past conversations.
• Muting a student: Their messages will not be sent via push notifications for the muted conversations.
• Temporary restrictions: Admins can apply time-limited chat bans if needed.

Can students access chat from a web browser if they don't have the ability to download the app?
Yes, students can chat via either the Finalsite Mobile App or web-based/URL platform

Can students delete their messages?
No, they cannot. To maintain accountability and compliance, students cannot delete or edit sent messages.

Is there a way to disable chat for specific students?
Yes, school admins can:

• Manually remove students from chat access.
• Disable chat for all students at a school level.
• Apply temporary or permanent bans on an individual basis.

Can parents control their child’s chat and view all of their messages?
Parents are not automatically included in the direct messages, unless the conversation was manually created as a group and parent(s) added manually. For chat rooms, this is dependent on the chatroom configuration setup which your Finalsite team will assist you with.