The wait is over. Today HISD has launched its new text message notification system, which will help HISD officials quickly and efficiently notify parents and employees when district and campus emergencies occur.

Did you receive a text message from HISD? If you did, that means your cell phone number is registered with HISD or one of its campuses, but you have not signed up for text message alerts. If that’s the case, you likely received the following message: Houston ISD text messages. Reply Y for aprx 3 msgs/mo. Txt HELP for info. Msg & data rates may apply. See schoolmessenger.com/tm.

This is your invitation to sign up for emergency text notifications. We encourage you to reply Y or YES to the text — or simply text YES to 68453 — to sign up for this new service. If you do not wish to receive text notifications, simply don’t respond. If at any point, you would like to opt-out of the notification system, just text “STOP” or “NO” to 68453.

If you did not sign up ahead of time, and you did not receive an invitation text message, it means one of the following:

Parents
Your cell phone number is not registered with your child’s school. Please contact your school register or data clerk and make sure all of your cell phone numbers are up-to-date.

Employees
Your cell phone number is not listed in the Employee Portal. (Your landline or work number may be listed there instead.) Please follow these instructions to update your telephone number and be able to receive text message alerts.

Please be assured that text messaging won’t replace our existing means of communication. Rather, it will serve as an additional tool to keep parents and employees informed. We will continue to distribute information through telephone messages, emails, and letters sent home with students and posted on school websites.

If you have any questions or would like additional information about text messaging, please see the HISD texting website, call your child’s school office, or contact Donna Tennant on the HISD Communications Team at dtennant@houstonisd.org.

Note: Please check with your service provider to make sure that texting is included in your cell phone plan before signing up. If it is not, you may incur text message charges from your cell phone company.