Do I have to change email settings as of Jan 31st??? We use broadcasts@schoolmessengermail.com

[jlaux]

I received an email from School Messenger in regards to changing email deliverability.....When I look at our School Messenger Communicate, logon as one of my "Attendance User Accounts", then go to "Broadcasts, Messages, Daily Absence Message, Email" - it lists our "FROM EMAIL=broadcasts@schoolmessengermail.com".  So do I even need to do anything with this "Important Changes Required for Email Deliverability"???

Can someone from School Messenger Communicate please let me know on this? I'm sure there are many other "School Messenger Communicate" customers who are wondering this as well, since our system was set up this way for all my schools years ago.

I see on the forum that someone posted this below, which to me means that I don't have to do anything in this regard....but I want to confirm that with someone! --> 

"Should you not make these changes your account will be updated to send email from schoolmessengermail.com on February 1, 2024.  It appears that if you do not make the necessare DNS changes for DKIM and SPF, then SchoolMessenger will change the sending address to use spe.schoolmessenger.com if necessary." 

Are you able to answer my question? Do I need to DO NOTHING in this regard, since all of our broadcasts are sent from the "broadcasts@schoolmessengermail.com" email address?? 

[KatharinaP]

Hi @jlaux,

If you are already sending broadcasts from the SchoolMessenger default email broadcasts@schoolmessengermail.com you are not required to make any changes at this time.  Changes are only required if you would like the emails to show from your district's email domain.

Kat

PowerSchool Community Support

[cpettus]

Hi,

Our secretaries like to put "newpaltzschools@newpaltz.k12.ny.us" in the FROM or REPLY TO fields of School Messenger emails. Or, "principal@newpaltz.k12.ny.us".  Do your secretaries or principals do this? It adds a personal touch so that parents can see that the email comes from someone in the school district that they trust (even though the email is actually coming from School Messenger). 

However.....this behavior is actually called "spoofing", although we use it in a nice way; not to fool people. 

The problem is, most people (scammers, etc.) do NOT use spoofing in a nice way. So Gmail and Yahoo are taking steps to prevent spoofing.

Hence the need to beef up your network security systems, so you can allow "spoofing" with School Messenger emails. That is why they sent out that "important message". 

Bottom line is.....check with your secretaries and principals and find out what they are putting in the FROM and REPLY TO fields in School Messenger emails!

===============================

Here is an excerpt from an eCollect (you could substitute "School Messenger") message that was sent today from PowerSchool:

New, bulk email sender requirements are going into effect in February that impact how schools and districts should send emails to their users in order to maintain an email sender reputation resulting in successful delivery to Gmail and Yahoo emails.

What are the new email sender requirements? 

Gmail and Yahoo are implementing changes in February requiring DKIM validation and requiring bulk senders to publish a DMARC policy for their domain. DKIM and DMARC are technologies which help prevent bad actors from spoofing domains. 

What is spoofing? 

Spoofing is the sending of email messages where the message is purported to be from an address containing a domain not owned by the sender. The domain is the portion of an email address following the “@” - e.g., username@domainname 

Spoofing is sometimes used when sending emails from Ecollect Forms (you could substitute "School Messenger" here). For example, sending emails to parents from an address like registrar@district.com. 

=============

Cheri Pettus

New Paltz CSD

[cpettus]

You know you have a problem if.....you create a new message in School Messenger, you change the FROM field, and you get a pink error that reads: "Your organization's email policy does not allow you to use the domain you entered as the From Email address. Use the default email. You may use your email address in the Reply To email instead." 

[vcifelli]

Thanks for posting this!  It would have been great if I had actually gotten that message or if Powerschool would answer support calls and chats!  If you still have the email with the necessary SPF and DKIM settings, could you do me a huge favor and forward it to me please?  vince.cifelli at shrsd.org  

[vcifelli]

Nevermind found another thread with the info!

[GrantWright]

Please share the thread.

[GrantWright]

Please share the link. I'm not a happy camper

[cpettus]

The "IMPORTANT CHANGES" thread is in the School Messenger Communicate Knowledge Base here:

https://help.powerschool.com/t5/SchoolMessenger-Communicate/Important-Changes-Required-for-Email-Del...

Cheri

[vcifelli]

https://help.powerschool.com/t5/SchoolMessenger-Communicate/Important-Changes-Required-for-Email-Del...

[vcifelli]

Might still need to contact them even with records in place created to do something on their end.  I already had the SPF record. Waiting to see if it filters through DNS and starts working without intervention.  Already waited 40 min for no one to answer the support line, had a chat that didn't load properly and finally submitted an email that I haven't even gotten a confirmation response for.  

[cpettus]

 We still got the dreaded pink error until School Messenger support flipped a switch on their end. 

[bolduste]

I got this message too... we did the changes on our side... and opened a support ticket with them... but it's still not working at this time... Is it me or SchoolMessenger support is kinda "flaky".... Have you found a solution to your problem ?

[cpettus]

Yes, these are the steps we took to get rid of the attached "pink error":

1) Followed steps 1, 2, and 4 here: https://help.powerschool.com/t5/SchoolMessenger-Communicate/Important-Changes-Required-for-Email-Del...

2) Opened a case with School Messenger support to change the settings ("flip the switch") on their end: https://help.powerschool.com/t5/Support-Case-Chat/ct-p/SupportCaseChat Mention that you are a District technical contact somewhere in the body of the case; use the words IMPORTANT CHANGES FOR EMAIL DELIVERABILITY (your district name) somewhere in the subject line. If you don't hear back within a couple of days you can contact your PowerSchool sales manager to find out the status of the case, since there is no way you can see the status of your School Messenger case on help.powerschool.com (supposedly they are working on that). Our sales manager kindly escalated the case for us. I think the School Messenger support link is for the general public, as well as Technical contacts, since it asks if you are over 13 years old. 🙂

This is the "pink error" that you get in School Messenger until both steps above are accomplished:

 

This is what School Messenger looks like after both steps above are accomplished:

Cheri

[bolduste]

Yep, exactly what we are receiving... 

We did all the chages on our side.

Beleive it or not... it's been like 3 times we open a case for that since wednesday and no one have contacted us or fixed the problem yet.

Even on Chat Support, they transfered me back to a support #... haven't heard from them since...

I just got an email from them... LOL... with the DMARC email changes procedure... again. Those support folks are really  not on the same planet as us....

[cpettus]

@bolduste I experienced the same thing. I recommend emailing your PowerSchool sales rep and asking them to escalate the case for you.

Cheri

[KritiS]

Hi

We apologize for the inconvenience caused.

We understand that many of you are facing delainconvenienceys in receiving support, especially with the increased volume of requests due to upcoming DMARC changes and other factors. We want to express our sincere apologies for any frustration this may have caused.

Please know that your concerns are our top priority, and we are fully committed to delivering a better experience for you. Our support team is actively working on adjusting our processes to ensure quicker responses, with a focus on addressing critical issues first.

Your patience during this time is truly appreciated, and we want to assure you that we are dedicated to resolving all open cases submitted by our customers. Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

[bolduste]

I completely understand that, butr as of today, our people are still unable to send Email Broadcasts. Creating more and more frustration....

[spsjs]

While we understand we may not be able to look up existing cases in the support case portal yet, there is a big "oops" in that using the form to create a case does NOT send us an email notification that a case has been received/created. This leads to an increasing feeling of "shouting into the void", especially when support is delayed. We shouldn't have to go pester our sales contacts to get notice.

[bolduste]

My case has been resolved yesterday.. but i had to ask our account manager to escalate it... 

PLease, fix this support site so you receive an email when a case is open, and also make it work so it sends us a copy of the support #/case open...

Steve

[KritiS]

Hi @bolduste @spsjs

We apologize sincerely for any inconvenience you may have experienced while attempting to connect with Support. Please be reassured that SchoolMessenger support is readily available to all users, and is actively refining our processes to ensure faster responses, prioritizing the resolution of critical issues.

Upon submitting a ticket, you should be able to see a message upon case creation, as depicted in the screenshot. Presently, we cannot monitor SchoolMessenger cases via the Community case site. However, you will receive email notifications regarding your SchoolMessenger cases whenever a support engineer comments on them. 

 Your patience during this period is highly valued, and we want to assure you that we are diligently working to resolve all open cases submitted by our customers. We appreciate your understanding and ongoing support.