Skip to main content
A guardian is a parent or another adult responsible for a student. Guardians don’t sign in to Cohort. Their record holds a name, a phone number and how they’re related to each student. By default, owners and admins can add, edit and remove guardians. Managers can see a student’s guardians.
Don’t see this page or button? Your role doesn’t include it. Ask your center’s owner or an admin to give you the role you need.

​
Add a guardian

1

Open the student's guardians

In the sidebar, select Students, select the student, then open the Guardians tab.
2

Start adding

Select Add guardian.
3

Enter the phone number

Enter the Parent / Guardian phone. Cohort checks the number as soon as it’s complete:
  • New guardian: nobody at your center has this number yet. Enter the guardian’s first and last name in Guardian name, and choose the Relation: Father, Mother or Guardian.
  • Existing guardian found: this person is already a guardian of another student, listed under Connected students. Check that it’s the right person, choose the Relation, then select Connect guardian.
If the guardian has no phone, leave the number blank and enter their name and relation.
4

Choose whether they're the primary guardian

Turn Primary guardian on or off. It’s on by default for a student’s first guardian. What it means is explained below.
5

Save

Select Add guardian.
You can also add a guardian while adding a student or editing one: the form’s Guardian section works the same way. A guardian added with a new student is always the primary guardian.

​
How phone matching works

Brothers and sisters at the same center usually share a parent. So that each parent has one record instead of one per child, Cohort looks the phone number up among your center’s guardians before it asks for a name. Only guardians count as a match. If a staff member or a student has the same number, Cohort doesn’t connect them, and the guardian is added as a new person. If Cohort finds a match and you try to save without connecting, it shows “This number is already registered. Connect the guardian or clear the number.”

​
Primary guardian and pickup

On the Guardians tab, a guardian can carry two badges:
  • Primary: the guardian who receives the messages your center sends to a student’s guardian. A student has at most one primary guardian, so making someone primary takes the badge away from the previous one.
  • Pickup OK: the guardian may collect the student. It’s for your team’s reference only. Guardians added from the student’s page always get this badge. To connect a guardian without it, use Link a student from the guardian’s details and turn off Can pick up.
You can’t change either setting for a guardian who is already connected. To change it, remove the guardian from the student, then add them again with the setting you want.

​
Edit a guardian’s details

1

Open the guardian

On the student’s Guardians tab, select the guardian. The Guardian details panel opens.
2

Edit

Select the pencil button, then change First name, Last name or Phone.
3

Save

Select Save. The change applies to every student this guardian is connected to.

​
Connect a guardian to another student

Use this when a guardian’s other child is already in Cohort.
1

Open the guardian

On the Guardians tab of a student they’re already connected to, select the guardian.
2

Link the student

Under Linked students, select Link a student. Choose the Student and the Relation, and turn Primary guardian and Can pick up on or off.
3

Save

Select Link.

​
Remove a guardian

On the student’s Guardians tab, select the trash button next to the guardian, then select Remove. Removing only disconnects the guardian from this student. Their record stays, along with any other children they’re connected to, so you can connect them again later. You can also disconnect a student from the Guardian details panel: select the trash button next to the student under Linked students, then select Unlink.
Last modified on October 1, 2026