Send text messages

MarkTrack can send text messages (SMS) to parents and students — perfect for time-sensitive alerts like a weather closure or an early dismissal that people will actually see on their phone right away. This guide covers turning SMS on (a one-time setup), writing and sending a text blast, scheduling one for later, using templates, and tracking who got the message, whether it was delivered, and what it cost.

Unlike email, texting costs money — you're sending real SMS through a phone carrier — so MarkTrack bills you per message and asks you to switch SMS on deliberately before you can use it. Once it's on, your organization gets its own dedicated phone number that every text is sent from.

Step 1 — Turn on SMS in Settings

This is a one-time setup done by an admin. SMS is billed to your organization's card, so you'll need a payment method saved first.

1. Go to Settings and open the SMS tab.
2. Find the SMS Settings card ("Send SMS messages to parents and students").
3. If you haven't added a card yet, you'll see a notice telling you to add a payment method in your Billing settings first — that's the card SMS is billed to. Add it on the Billing tab, then come back.
4. Check the box that begins "I acknowledge SMS is billed at … per message segment and added to my monthly invoice." This is required.
5. Optionally set a Monthly budget (USD) — leave it at 0 for no cap. MarkTrack emails you at 80% of the budget and pauses sending at 100%.
6. Click Turn on SMS & get a number.

MarkTrack provisions a dedicated phone number and confirms with "SMS is on. Your number is …". From now on the card shows SMS is on, the price per message segment, and a link to View SMS history.

Step 2 — Open the SMS composer

1. Go to your Dashboard.
2. In the Quick Actions row, click Send SMS (the chat-bubble icon).
3. The New SMS window opens. Its header shows your organization name and the dedicated phone number texts are sent from.

Step 3 — Pick your recipients

Choosing who gets the text works just like the email composer. In the To box you can:

• Search by name and click a parent, student, or teacher to add them.
• Click All Parents, All Students, or All Teachers to add a whole group.
• Open By class to add every student in a class.
• Type a phone number directly to text someone who isn't in MarkTrack.

Admins with several schools get a School scope dropdown to switch which school's people appear. Teachers are limited to their own students and those students' parents.

Step 4 — Write the message

The SMS Message box is plain text — no bold, links, or images, since those don't carry over text. As you type, a counter shows the character count and how many segments the message uses.

• A standard text fits in one segment (about 160 characters). Longer messages split into multiple segments, and you're billed per segment — so keep it tight to keep costs down.
• The hard limit is 1,600 characters. MarkTrack won't send a longer message.
• You don't need to add opt-out wording yourself — "Reply STOP to opt out" is appended automatically for compliance.

Quick templates

Click Quick templates for ready-made texts: Weather Closure, Delayed Opening, Early Dismissal, Attendance Alert, Event Reminder, and Payment Reminder. Click one to drop its wording in, then fill in any placeholders (like [TIME] or [DATE]) and edit to fit.

Step 5 — Send now, or schedule for later

To send immediately, just click Send. MarkTrack confirms with "Sending SMS to N recipient(s)" and the texts go out in the background.

To send at a future time instead:

1. Click Schedule for later to expand it.
2. Pick a date and time in the picker. (Leave it blank to send right away.)
3. Click Send. MarkTrack confirms with "SMS scheduled for …" and queues it to go out at that time.

Step 6 — Track delivery and cost

Texts are logged per recipient so you can see exactly who received each message, whether it was delivered, and what it cost.

1. In the left sidebar, click Communications, then open the Texts tab. (You can also use the View SMS history link on the SMS Settings card.)
2. Each row shows the recipient, a preview of the message, when it was sent, a status badge, and the cost.
3. Click any row to open its detail — the full message, recipient and phone number, status, cost, when it was sent and delivered, the message type, and who sent it. A failed text shows the error.

Status badges tell you where each text stands: Delivered (green) reached the phone, Sent or Queued (blue) is on its way, Pending or Scheduled (yellow) hasn't gone out yet, and Failed or Undelivered (red) didn't get through.

That's texting in MarkTrack: turn it on once, compose and send (or schedule) a blast, and watch delivery and cost in the Communications history. For sending richer messages with formatting and attachments, see Send an email to families. Questions about SMS billing or setup? Contact our support team.