The family code: a second check before Elira shares a child’s details
Set one code for your school; families give it before Elira answers about their own child.
Phone numbers change hands. A family switches carriers, a prepaid number is recycled, a grandparent borrows a handset. Elira already answers a question about a specific child only when the text, email or call comes from a contact the school has on file for that child. The family code adds a second check on top of that: one short code your school chooses and hands to its families.
How it works
- In Settings, under Family code, enter 4–8 digits and save. Elira never shows the code again, so note it where your office keeps such things. Clear it any time.
- Share the code with families the way you share anything else — in the offer letter, at registration, at the front desk. Elira never sends it out.
- When a family asks about their own child — what is still missing, what the next step is, where the application stands — Elira first asks for the code. By text or email she replies: “Before I share anything about your child, reply with your school’s family code.” On a call to your Elira number she asks for the code on the keypad, then plays the status menu.
- Once the code is right, that phone number or email address stays verified for 24 hours. Three wrong tries in a row lock that contact out for an hour; the family is pointed to your office and the attempt appears once on Needs you so staff know.
What never needs the code
Questions about the school itself — hours, buses, lunch, dates — are answered as before. STOP and HELP work as before. Accepting or declining a seat offer works as before. The code only guards facts from a child’s own record.
What the code does not do
It never widens who can ask. A stranger who knows the code but is texting from a number the school has not given us learns nothing — Elira never confirms a code exists. If no code is set, Elira behaves exactly as she did before.