Creating a Parent-Run Group Chat (No Admin Access)

Sometimes you want a group chat that's entirely run by parents — for example, a parent representative who manages the conversation, adds or removes members, and keeps it running, all without a school admin visibly in the mix. Onespot's group chat feature lets you set this up so a parent representative is in control and no admin is a member of the chat.

Here's how to do it.

1. Create the group chat

In your Administrative Superpowers ⚡, go to New Screen → Group Chat.

Under Settings, fill in the basics:

Title — name it something like "Parent Group Chat" (or whatever fits).
Icon — pick one if you'd like.
Discussion Topic — optional, set this if you want the chat focused on a particular topic.
Reaction Type — choose how members can react (e.g. Like).
Replies — leave "Allow replies" checked if you want members to reply to each other.

You can just set the basic details here to get the chat started — the parent editor/moderator can change any of these later as they see fit.

2. Add your members

This is the important part. Under Chat Members, click Manage Members and manually add the people you want in the group, including your parent representative(s).

Once they're added, you can let them know they're free to add or remove other members themselves later on.

Add yourself too — for now. Include yourself as a chat member at this stage. Once the chat is set to "Only users in this chat have access," anyone who isn't a member (including you as admin) is locked out and can't reopen the settings. Adding yourself keeps your access, so you can assign the editor in step 4. You'll remove yourself at the end.

3. Set the permissions

Still in Settings, set the permissions so the chat stays exclusive to its members:

Access — select Only users in this chat have access. This keeps the chat private to the people you've added.
Messages — select All chat members can post in this chat.
Replies — select All chat members can reply to messages.

Once that's all set, hit Create.

4. Assign the parent as editor/moderator

Now that the chat exists, go back into its Settings. Because you added yourself as a member in step 2, you'll still have access. A new option — Chat Editors/Moderators — will now appear.

Under Chat Editors/Moderators, tap the Manage Editors button.
Tick the parent representative(s) you want to run the chat.
Once you do this, they'll be able to manage the settings for this screen on their own end.

5. Remove yourself from the chat

With the parent editor assigned, go back into Manage Members and remove yourself. The chat is now fully parent-run — the parent representative controls it, and you're no longer a member.

After this, you won't be able to reopen the chat's settings yourself (you'll see a "This screen is restricted" message). That's expected, and it's what makes the chat exclusively parent-run.

What this looks like for everyone

For the parent representative: The parent group chat now appears on their screen, even though they don't have any admin superpowers or the lightning bolt. When they open the chat, they'll see a gear (settings) icon and a people icon. The people icon lets them see the chat members and add or remove anyone they like. The gear icon lets them adjust the chat's settings.

One thing to pass along to them: when managing members, they should not toggle anything under permissions, so the chat stays exclusive to its members.

For you, as an admin: If you're not a member of the chat, you'll still see the screen exists, but when you try to open it you'll get a message that the screen is restricted because you're not a member of the chat or feed.

Once the parent representative has editor access, you can send them our parent-facing guide so they know how to run the chat — adding and removing members, adjusting settings, and adding the chat to their home screen: Managing Your Parent Group Chat.