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# Group Chat: Moderated Club Messaging in Club Hub

Group Chat brings club conversation into Club Hub, where faculty advisors are part of every chat and administrators can see everything. Instead of clubs organizing themselves in personal text threads, WhatsApp groups, and social media accounts your school cannot see, the conversation happens in the same place as the roster, the calendar, and the club page.

Group Chat is off by default. An administrator turns it on for the whole school.

## The problem this solves

Most clubs already have a group chat. It is just not one the school can see.

Club leaders create a text thread or a WhatsApp group at the start of the year, add whoever they can reach, and run the club from there. That creates three problems for a school:

* **No adult is in the room.** Faculty advisors are rarely added to a student text thread, and often should not be added to a personal messaging app at all. The school has no idea what is being shared in the group carrying its name.
* **The roster drifts immediately.** Every time a student joins or leaves the club, someone has to remember to add or remove them by hand. New members are missed for weeks. Students who left the club stay in the chat.
* **Students drown in threads.** A student in six clubs is in six separate chats, in three different apps, none of which are connected to the club they belong to.

Group Chat fixes all three. Membership comes from the club roster and updates itself, the club's faculty advisors are in the chat automatically, and every club a student belongs to appears in one list inside the app they already use.

![The Chats area on desktop, with the list of club chats on the left and an open club conversation on the right](https://imagedelivery.net/5rgFjD1PR0fYWNFwye4rAA/6e0b8afa-4e63-4124-a2b7-1851bebab900/public =686xauto)

## What students get

Students have been asking for this for years, and it is built to feel like the messaging apps they already use rather than like school software.

* A familiar conversation view with message bubbles, grouped messages, and date separators
* Mobile push notifications through the Club Hub app, so it is as immediate as a text
* Every club they belong to in a single list, with unread badges
* Search, pinned chats, and per chat muting so the clubs that matter stay on top
* File, photo, and document sharing inside the conversation

![The mobile chat list showing every club a student belongs to, with search and the All, Unread and Muted filters](https://imagedelivery.net/5rgFjD1PR0fYWNFwye4rAA/10fc3623-f9c6-4cd8-0a7e-92d4fe849b00/public =320xauto)

Because a chat is attached to the club, nobody has to be invited and nobody has to maintain a contact list. A student who joins the Debate Team is in the Debate Team chat.

## How moderation works

This is the part that makes Group Chat different from anything a club can set up on its own.

**Faculty advisors are in every chat.** When a chat is created, the club's faculty advisors are added automatically. They cannot be removed by anyone, and they cannot leave.

![The chat details panel showing the club leader and faculty advisor under Leadership, and the full members list with each person's role](https://imagedelivery.net/5rgFjD1PR0fYWNFwye4rAA/c5887e53-7bfd-402b-2173-37dc49080500/public =686xauto)

**Advisors see everything, including deleted messages.** A faculty advisor can delete any message in their club's chats. When any message is deleted, the thread shows a note naming who deleted it, and the original content stays readable to advisors and administrators. Deleting does not erase the record.

**Administrators can read any chat at the school.** You do not need to be a member and you do not need to ask. Open any club's chat and read it.

**Joining to post is visible.** In a chat you are not part of, you can read but not send. Clicking **Join Chat** adds you, and everyone in the chat sees you listed under **ADMINISTRATOR**.

**You can restrict one student without switching anything off.** Open **Users**, select the student, switch on **Restrict Messaging Privileges**, then click **Update**. They can still read the chats they belong to but cannot post in any of them, and they see a notice explaining that an administrator restricted them. Every other chat in the school carries on as normal.

![The Edit student information window with the Restrict Messaging Privileges toggle and the Update button](https://imagedelivery.net/5rgFjD1PR0fYWNFwye4rAA/21ae5dd3-2587-408f-e330-2e0a9d50dd00/public =560xauto)

## Turn on Group Chat for your school

* Open **Settings** from the sidebar.
* Select **Group Chat**.
* Set **Enable group chat for your school** to **Yes**.
* Click **Save changes**.

![Settings, Group Chat, showing the Enable group chat for your school question set to Yes and the Save changes button](https://imagedelivery.net/5rgFjD1PR0fYWNFwye4rAA/75dda804-80f4-40fc-364f-d477fbb9fe00/public =686xauto)

A **Chat** item appears in the desktop sidebar and **Chats** in the mobile bottom bar. Until you enable it, that item is hidden for everyone at your school.

The next time an existing user opens Club Hub, they see a one time **Group Chat is Here!** notice pointing them to the chat icon. Accounts less than six months old do not see it.

**Assign your faculty advisors first.** A club's advisors are added to a chat when the chat is created. An advisor assigned later is not added to chats that already exist, and a club with no advisor will produce a chat with no staff member in it. Confirm advisors are in place before you announce Group Chat to your school.

## Who creates chats

Chats are created by a club's **club leaders** and **faculty advisors**, for the clubs they lead or advise.

Administrators can read and join any chat at the school. Administrators can also create any chat.

## The two kinds of chat

When a chat is created, the creator chooses who can participate.

### All Club Members

Membership follows the club roster and updates itself as students join and leave. Nobody is added or removed by hand, and members cannot leave while they are in the club. This is the club's main channel, and each club can have one.

### Specific Members

A hand picked group from the roster, chosen with a member picker and a **Select All** shortcut. People can be added or removed later, and they can leave voluntarily. This is how a club runs a smaller conversation without starting something outside Club Hub.

![The Create New Chat window showing Select a Club, Chat Name, and the All Club Members and Specific Members options](https://imagedelivery.net/5rgFjD1PR0fYWNFwye4rAA/e150832d-fcc5-40d6-3525-ef19b457b000/public =686xauto)

## Use Cases

Clubs that benefit most from Specific Members chats:

* **Trip and travel groups.** The twelve students going to the conference, plus the advisor, without the other forty members.
* **Event preparation.** A committee getting ready for the club fair, a performance, or a fundraiser.
* **Officers.** Club leaders coordinating between meetings.
* **Competition teams.** The students actually competing at the tournament.
* **Grade or project groups.** Long term group work within a larger club.

Every one of these is a conversation that would otherwise have happened in a private text thread with no advisor in it.

## How Group Chat and Announcements work together

Both reach a club audience, so the difference is direction and delivery.

|  | Group Chat | Announcements |
| ---- |
| Shape | Ongoing two way conversation | One way post, with comments |
| Who can post | Any participant, including students | Club: leaders, advisors, administrators. School: administrators |
| Audience | The people in that chat | Club announcement: that club's members. School announcement: the group you select |
| Email | Never sends email | Sends email, and club announcements can include parents |
| Mobile notification | Yes | Yes |
| Scheduling | Sends immediately | Can be scheduled or saved as a draft |

Use an announcement when you need something on the record and delivered by email. Use a chat when the club needs to talk something through. Most schools use both.

## Day to day features

* **Attachments.** Images, PDFs, Word documents, and other files, with **Open** and **Download** buttons on every attachment. Files can be renamed before they are sent.
* **Pin** up to three chats to the top of the list.
* **Mute** a single chat. On mobile, swipe a row left for Pin and Mute. On desktop, use the three dot menu on the row.
* **Search** by chat name or club name, and filter by **All**, **Unread**, or **Muted**.
* **Delete your own message** at any time.
* Unread state is tracked per person, so opening a chat only marks it read for you.

![Pin and Mute revealed by swiping a chat row to the left on mobile](https://imagedelivery.net/5rgFjD1PR0fYWNFwye4rAA/59522578-5a35-40f5-2e65-c5a4d7dbfb00/public =320xauto)

## Notifications

New messages send a mobile push notification titled with the sender and the chat name, and show an unread badge in the navigation. Group Chat never sends email.

Anyone can mute a single chat, or turn off chat notifications entirely under **Settings**, **Personal Information**, **Notification Settings**, using **Receive push notifications for group chat messages**.

Tell students to install the Club Hub mobile app and turn on push notifications. Group Chat is only as immediate as a text message if the notifications are on.

## Pausing Group Chat

Set **Enable group chat for your school** to **No** and click **Save changes**. The chat area is hidden for everyone and no new messages can be sent.

Nothing is deleted. Turning it back on restores every chat, message, and attachment exactly where it left off. That makes this a safe way to pause chat over a break or during an investigation, rather than a decision you cannot undo.

## Common questions

### Can students create chats without an advisor knowing?

No. Chats can only be created for a club, and the club's faculty advisors are added automatically and cannot be removed. Confirm every club has an advisor assigned before you roll this out.

### Can we turn Group Chat on for only some clubs?

The setting is school wide. Control at the club level comes from whether a chat is created at all, which is up to that club's leaders and advisors.

### Can an administrator read a chat without joining it?

Yes. Reading is silent. Posting requires clicking Join Chat, which is visible to everyone in the chat.

### What happens when a student leaves the club?

They are removed from that club's chats. If they were hand picked into a Specific Members chat, rejoining the club does not put them back, so a leader or advisor needs to add them again.

### Does Enter send a message?

On desktop, Enter sends and Shift plus Enter adds a new line. On mobile, Enter adds a new line and you send with the send button.

## Quick summary

* Turn Group Chat on in Settings, Group Chat.
* Assign faculty advisors to every club first.
* Club leaders and faculty advisors create chats for their own clubs.
* All Club Members chats follow the roster automatically. Specific Members chats cover trips, events, officers, and committees.
* Faculty advisors are in every chat and cannot be removed.
* Administrators can read any chat, and must join visibly to post.
* Restrict Messaging Privileges handles an individual student without affecting anyone else.
* Turning Group Chat off hides everything and deletes nothing.

Group Chat gives students the messaging experience they have been asking for, and gives your school something a WhatsApp group never could: an adult in every conversation and a complete record.