What are Announcements?

Announcements is a feature on Kaymbu's Messaging platform that allows administrators, directors, and teachers to share general communications or urgent updates to their school community. Designed to function similarly to a bulletin board, Announcements are a way to temporarily post current and important information for staff and families.

Table of Contents

1. Accessing Announcements
2. Who Can Send and Receive Announcements
3. My Announcements
   1. Active Announcements and Archived Announcements
   2. How to Archive an Announcement
   3. How to Restore an Announcement
4. Announcements Sent to Me
5. Center and Classroom Announcements
6. How to Send an Announcement
7. Urgent Announcements
8. Scheduled Announcements
   1. How to Create a Scheduled Announcement
   2. Viewing a Scheduled Announcement
   3. Editing a Scheduled Announcement
   4. Deleting a Scheduled Announcement

Accessing Announcements

Kaymbu users can access Announcements by navigating to Menu > Messaging and selecting the "Announcements" tab at the top of the page. All Announcements sent and received through Kaymbu’s Messaging platform will be stored within the "Announcements" tab on the Messaging page. 

Who Can Send and Receive Announcements

Announcements can be sent by administrators or directors to all of the families within their organization or center, while teachers can send Announcements to all of the families within their classroom. 

When an Announcement is sent to families, families will receive the message through the Kaymbu for Families app or through email, depending on their notification preferences.  If an Announcement is marked as Urgent, families will receive the message through all stored contact methods (Kaymbu for Families app, email, and text message).

High-level users, such as administrators and directors, also have the ability to send Announcements to staff members. Staff will receive Announcements directly through the Kaymbu app or web portal. If an Announcement is marked as Urgent, staff will also receive the message via email and text message.

It is important to note that recipients will not be able to respond to Announcements.

Announcements are designed to post important communications and updates for staff and families for a designated period of time. Once the Announcement is no longer relevant, it can be archived, which will remove the message from staff and family inboxes.

My Announcements

The first section of messages that appear under “My Announcements” are messages that the user has personally sent to families (and staff - for high-level users). These messages are indicated with purple tabs. 

At a glance, each Announcement card includes the subject or title of the Announcement, a preview of the message, and its post date. The top of the card will indicate if the Announcement was sent as Urgent, while the bottom of the card will indicate the recipient(s). 

Users can scroll through their row of Announcement cards by clicking on the navigation arrows. Alternatively, you can choose to view all of your Announcements by clicking on “See All.” This will take you to the My Announcements grid page, which will populate all of your active Announcements. From the My Announcements page, you have the ability to archive your Announcements and access your Archived Announcements inbox when needed.

Active and Archived Announcements

When you select the “See All” option from the My Announcements section, you will be taken to the My Announcements grid page. Here, you can access your Active, Scheduled, and Archive inboxes of Announcements. 

How to Archive an Announcement

Users can choose to archive Announcements when needed. Archiving Announcements will remove the message from your active inbox, and it will also remove it from the inboxes of the recipients.

Please note that archiving an Announcement does not delete the message; instead, it will move the message to your archive inbox. If you need to delete an Announcement, please reach out to our support team at help@kaymbu.com for additional assistance.

To archive an Announcement, navigate to the "Announcements" tab on the Messaging page. Click on the Announcement card to open the message, and then click the archive icon at the top of the page.

Additionally, you can select the “See All” option from the My Announcements section. This will take you to the My Announcements grid page, which populates all of your Active Announcements. From there, you can click on the archive icon located in the top right corner of the Announcement card.

Once an Announcement has been archived, it can always be accessed and restored to active by navigating to your Archived inbox located on the My Announcements grid page.

How to Restore an Announcement

To restore an archived Announcement, navigate to the "Announcements" tab on the Messaging page. Then, select the “See All” option on the My Announcements section. Click on the “Archived” button at the top of the My Announcements grid page.

From your Archived inbox, click on the restore icon located on the top right corner of the Announcement card, or you can choose to open up the Announcement and click on the restore icon within the message itself. When an Announcement has been restored, the message will return to your Active inbox.

Please note that restoring an Announcement will also restore the message for all former recipients attached to the message.

Announcements Sent to Me

The row of Announcements that appear under the “Sent To Me” section of the Announcements homepage are messages that the user has received. These Announcements are indicated with red tabs. 

At a glance, each Announcement card that appears under “Sent To Me” includes the subject or title of the Announcement, a preview of the message, and its post date. The top of the card will indicate if the Announcement is a new message or if it was sent as Urgent, while the bottom of the card will indicate the sender. 

You can scroll through your row of Announcement cards by clicking on the navigation arrows, or you can choose to view all of the Announcements you have received by selecting “See All,” which will take you to the “Sent To Me” grid page.

Please note that the Announcements sent to you can only be archived by the original sender.

Center and Classroom Announcements

High-level users, such as directors or administrators, can access all Announcements for all centers or classrooms within their account by navigating to the list of entities located at the bottom of the Announcements homepage. 

Both Active and Archived Announcements can be viewed by clicking into each center or classroom. When viewing classroom Announcements as a high-level user, the Announcement cards are indicated with pink tabs. High-level users are able to archive or restore these Announcements when needed.

How to Send an Announcement

Announcements can be sent by navigating to the Messaging page from the Menu. To create and send an Announcement, follow the steps below:

1. Select the green circle with the “+” icon.
2. Select “Announcement” to send a group announcement to staff and/or families.
3. Select recipient(s) by clicking the pencil icon. High-level users, such as administrators or directors, can send Announcements to staff members. When selecting their recipients, they will have the option to send the message to staff, families, or both.
4. Enter a subject and the content of the message below
5. Select the paperclip icon below to add any attachments, if applicable.
6. Select “Send.”

When an Announcement is sent, family members can view the message through the Messaging feature on the Kaymbu for Families app or via email, depending on their Notification Settings. Families will only receive text messages (SMS) if an Announcement is marked as Urgent. Please note that Announcements cannot be responded to by recipients.

To learn more about Messaging for families, you can click here.

Urgent Announcements

Urgent messaging is available for Announcements, allowing users to have the option to send vital notices or updates to their school community. When an Announcement is sent as urgent, families will receive notifications across all stored contact methods. For example, if a family member has the Kaymbu for Families app and their email and phone number are saved to their profile, they can receive notifications through all three methods.

Likewise, urgent Announcements can be sent to staff. High-level users such as administrators or directors can mark an Announcement as "Urgent" and send the message to staff, families, or both. Staff can also receive urgent notifications across all stored contact methods. 

To send an Announcement as urgent, simply toggle the “Urgent” option ON when drafting the message. Upon doing so, a prompt will appear informing you that an urgent message will notify recipients through all contact methods. However, you do have the option of whether or not to include an SMS notification.

Please note that families and staff will only receive text messages (SMS) if an Announcement is marked as urgent and if a phone number has been saved to their family profile or user profile. SMS notifications for staff must be enabled through their user profile in the Roster.

Scheduled Announcements

Users have the ability to create and schedule future Announcements, allowing you to plan ahead and ensure important messages are delivered at the right time, keeping staff and/or families informed.

How to Create a Scheduled Announcement

Similar to creating a regular Announcement, when drafting a scheduled Announcement, you have the option to select families and/or staff as recipients. Additionally, you can mark a scheduled Announcement as Urgent if needed. To create a scheduled Announcement, follow the steps below:

1. Select the green circle with the “+” icon.
2. Select “Announcement” to send a group announcement to staff and/or families.
3. Select recipient(s) by clicking the pencil icon. High-level users, such as administrators or directors, can send Announcements to staff members. When selecting their recipients, they will have the option to send the message to Staff, Families, or both.
4. When applicable, you can mark the message as “Urgent” by toggling the button ON.
5. Enter the subject and the content of the message below.
6. Select the paperclip icon below to add any attachments if needed.
7. Click on the downward arrow next to the “Send” button and select “Schedule Send.”
8. Select your desired date and time for the message to be sent. Any fifteen-minute increment of time up to one year in the future can be chosen.
9. Select “Save”.

Viewing a Scheduled Announcement

All scheduled Announcements can be accessed and viewed at any time before their send date. 

To view the scheduled Announcements you have created, navigate to Menu > Messaging > Click on the “Announcements” tab at the top of the page > Select “See All” located within the My Announcements section.

Once on the My Announcements grid page, select “Scheduled” to view all of your scheduled Announcements.

From the Scheduled Announcements grid page, individual message cards allow you to quickly view the message subject, recipients, and the scheduled date and time. By clicking on a message card, you can open the message and edit it if needed.

Editing a Scheduled Announcement

Changes and updates to a scheduled Announcement can be made before the scheduled send date. 

To edit a scheduled Announcement, navigate to Menu > Messaging > Click on the “Announcements” tab at the top of the page > Select “See All” located within the My Announcements section.

Once on the My Announcements grid page, select “Scheduled” to view all of your scheduled Announcements. Then, click on the message card you would like to edit.

Once the scheduled message has been opened, you can edit the recipients, subject, and body of the message. Additionally, you can change the scheduled date and time of the Announcement by selecting “Edit” to the right of the scheduled date. Once you’ve implemented all of your changes, ensure that you select “Save Edits” at the bottom of the message.

Scheduled Announcements will be automatically sent on the date and time selected for that particular message. However, users will always have the option to send any scheduled Announcements immediately if desired. If you wish to send a scheduled Announcement in real-time, simply select “Send Now” at the bottom of the page to send the Announcement to recipients.

Please note that high-level users, such as administrators or directors, can access scheduled Center and Classroom Announcements and can view, edit, or delete these existing messages.

Deleting a Scheduled Announcement

A scheduled Announcement can be deleted if needed. This will prevent the message from being automatically sent to families and/or staff. To delete a scheduled Announcement, please follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Menu > Messaging > Click on the “Announcements” tab at the top of the page.
2. Select “See All” located within the “My Announcements” section.
3. Select “Scheduled” at the top of the page to view all of your scheduled Announcements.
4. Click on the message card you would like to delete.
5. Click on the downward arrow next to the “Send” button and select “Delete Announcement.”
6. A confirmation prompt will appear, select “Delete”.