Overview
Every alert in Sentinel has a comment thread — a chronological conversation attached to that specific alert. Staff, parents, and THEO all participate in the same thread, making it easy to coordinate a response, communicate with families, and document what happened.
How the Thread Works
The comment thread sits below the case file on any open alert. Comments appear in order from oldest at the top to newest at the bottom, similar to a messaging conversation.
Each comment shows:
- Who posted it (a staff member's name, a parent's name, or "THEO" for AI responses)
- When it was posted
- The comment body
New comments appear automatically when you reload or view the alert. You can scroll back through the full history at any time.
Who Can Post in the Thread
- Counselors and school admins — Can post both regular comments and internal notes. Can acknowledge, resolve, and ask THEO for help.
- School staff — Can post comments but cannot mark notes as internal. Cannot resolve alerts.
- Parents — Can post comments and read non-internal comments, but only on alerts linked to their own student. Parents cannot post internal notes.
- THEO — Responds automatically when mentioned with @THEO. THEO's comments are always visible to everyone on the thread.
MSP staff can read the thread but are not directly shown the full comment list in the portal (they see a count).
Internal Notes
When posting a comment, you have the option to mark it as internal. Internal notes are only visible to school staff and MSP staff — parents never see them, even if they are watching the alert.
Use internal notes for:
- Clinical observations that are not appropriate to share with parents
- Coordination between staff members (for example, "I'm calling the family this afternoon, can you check in with the student's teacher?")
- Notes about how you plan to approach the situation
- Any information that belongs in a professional record but not a family communication
If a comment is not marked internal, assume parents with access to the alert can read it. Write accordingly.
Mentioning @THEO
Typing @THEO in a comment and setting the mention flag invokes Sentinel's AI assistant. THEO analyzes the alert context and posts a reply directly in the thread. See the Asking THEO About an Alert article for details on what THEO can help with.
THEO's replies are always visible to everyone on the thread — they are never marked internal. This is intentional: THEO's contributions are part of the alert record.
Editing and Deleting Comments
You can delete your own comment within five minutes of posting it. After that five-minute window closes, your comment becomes part of the permanent thread.
School admins can moderate (remove) any comment from their school except THEO replies. MSP staff can moderate any comment organization-wide except THEO replies.
THEO's comments are never deletable by anyone. They are part of the audit trail for the alert.
Parent Visibility
Parents are authorized on a per-alert, per-student basis. A parent only sees the thread for alerts linked to their own student — they cannot see threads for other families. Within a thread they can see, they see only comments that are not marked internal. Every call the server makes verifies the parent-to-student link before returning any data.
This means you can write freely in internal notes without worrying that a parent will see them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a parent tell which comments are internal?
No. Internal comments are filtered out before the response reaches the parent. Parents only see comments that are not internal, and they have no indication that other comments exist.
If I post something non-internal and then want to hide it, what should I do?
Contact your school admin or MSP to remove the comment. You can delete your own comments within five minutes, after which only an admin or MSP can do so.
Does the parent see THEO's response?
Yes. THEO responses are always visible to everyone on the thread, including parents. THEO adapts its tone based on who triggered the mention — warmer and more supportive when a parent invoked it, more professional and clinical when staff did.
Can parents and staff see each other's comments in the same thread?
Yes, for non-internal comments. The thread is shared. This is intentional — it allows the school and family to communicate in one place about a specific alert. Only internal notes are hidden from parents.
How do I know if a comment is from a parent versus a counselor?
Each comment displays the author's name and role. The thread makes it clear who wrote each message.