Overview
The parent portal is a dedicated section of Shield where parents and guardians can view safety alerts linked to their children, communicate with the school's counseling team, and manage their notification preferences. Access is through a magic-link sign-in — no password is ever required.
How Magic-Link Sign-In Works
Shield does not use passwords for parent accounts. Instead, every time you want to log in, the system emails you a one-time sign-in link. Clicking the link signs you in automatically.
First-time sign-in:
- Wait for the invite email from your child's school. This email comes after a school administrator or counselor sets up your parent account.
- Click the sign-in link in the email. You land in the parent portal for your school.
- The school's name and logo appear at the top of the page — confirm it matches the school you expect.
Returning sign-in:
- Go to your school's portal URL. The school will have provided this; it looks like
app.theonestack.com/portal/shield/your-school-name. - Enter your email address.
- Check your email for a fresh one-time link. Click it to sign in.
Sign-in links expire after a short time and are single-use. If a link has expired, simply request a new one by entering your email again on the sign-in page.
What Parents Can See
After signing in, the portal shows:
- Your linked children — One section for each student the school has linked to your account. If your children attend different Shield-enabled schools and both use the same email address for your parent records, you see all children in one view.
- Alert summaries — For each child, a list of recent safety alerts ordered by date. Each alert shows the concern category (for example, "bullying concern" or "self-harm concern"), the current status, and when it was created.
- Comment threads — Click into an alert to read the conversation between the school and any comments you have previously added. You can post new comments to communicate with the counseling team.
- Notification preferences — Settings for your preferred alert channel (email or SMS). These are recorded preferences; alerts reach you in the portal today.
What Parents Cannot See
The parent portal is intentionally limited to protect both your child's privacy and the privacy of other students:
- Raw message content — Parents never see the original emails, documents, or chat messages that triggered an alert. You see a counselor-oriented summary, not the underlying content.
- Internal staff notes — Counselors can mark comments as internal. Those notes are hidden from parents. You only see comments the school has chosen to share with families.
- Other students' information — Every page in the portal is verified against your specific parent-to-student link. You can only see alerts for students the school has linked to your account. You cannot see alerts for other families' children.
- Case file details — The detailed case file with risk factors, clinical guidance, and evidence references is for school staff. Your alert view shows the summary and the comment thread.
- Student identifiers — The portal shows display names only. Email addresses and system identifiers are never visible to parents.
Notification Preferences
Inside the portal, open the Preferences or Settings section to record your preferred alert channel:
- Email — On by default.
- SMS — Off by default. Turn on and confirm your phone number is correct if you want text-message alerts.
These settings record your preference. They are not a live delivery channel today — no email, SMS, push or page is sent. Alerts appear in the portal for each child linked to your account.
Note: your school controls which alert severity levels include parents. If you feel you are seeing too many or too few alerts, ask your school's counseling office to review the threshold settings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to create a password?
No. Shield uses magic-link sign-in for parents. You never create or manage a password.
Why am I not getting email or SMS notifications?
The email and SMS channel is not live yet — no alert is sent by email, SMS, push or page today. Alerts appear in this portal for each child linked to your account. If an alert you expected is missing, your consent may not yet be verified: federal privacy law requires the school to verify that they have consent on file before a parent is included in an alert's recipients. Contact your school's counseling or administrative office.
Can I add a second parent to my child's alerts?
Additional parents need to be added by the school. Contact the school and provide the other parent's email address. Each parent gets their own account and login.
What if the sign-in link in my email doesn't work?
Links are single-use and expire quickly for security. Request a fresh link by going to your school's portal URL and entering your email address.
I see alerts for a student who isn't my child. What should I do?
Contact the school immediately. An incorrect parent-to-student link is a serious matter that needs to be corrected right away. Do not use the portal to review alerts for a student who is not yours.
Can I see all my children's alerts from different schools in one place?
Yes, as long as you used the same email address when each school set up your parent account. The portal's "My Children" view collects linked students across schools.