This article was published on May 8, 2026.
Moderation allows teachers and administrators to monitor their classrooms and ensure student safety within Flint.
In this article, you will learn...
What moderation means in Flint
Overview of Flint's moderation system
Overview of Flint's moderation system
Flint's moderation system automatically monitors student messages for potentially inappropriate or harmful content. When a student sends a message that matches one of Flint's moderation categories, the system:
Flags the message for review
Notifies designated moderators via email
Logs the flagged message in the analytics dashboard
Who can be a moderator
Who can be a moderator
Moderators are designated staff members who receive email notifications about flagged content and can view flagged student sessions. The following are the different scopes of moderation:
Workspace moderators: Classroom teachers, guidance counselors, and other student support specialists can serve as moderators and cover assigned grade levels
Group moderators: Must be owners of the group
By default, the creator of a workspace is the workspace moderator, and the creator of a group is the group moderator.
How to set up moderation guidelines
Flint's moderation guidelines
Flint's moderation guidelines
Moderation guidelines are custom instructions that tell Sparky how to respond when a student sends an inappropriate message. When a flagged conversation is triggered, Sparky will follow your guidelines to provide an appropriate response.
Setting moderation guidelines
Setting moderation guidelines
Click "Settings & members" from the left sidebar
Click "Moderation and access" from the left sidebar
Click the Moderation guidelines text box and enter instructions for how Sparky should respond to inappropriate messages
Click "Save" to save your changes
Best practices
Best practices
When writing moderation guidelines, consider:
Provide clear escalation procedures: Tell students who to contact if they need help.
Include contact information for support resources: Add links to counseling services, helplines, or school support staff.
Specify tone and approach for different scenarios: Guide Sparky on how to respond compassionately while redirecting the conversation.
Reference your student handbook: Direct students to specific sections of your school's policies when appropriate
Example guideline: "When a student uses inappropriate language, respond with empathy and redirect them to Section II Article III of our student handbook. If a student expresses distress, provide the school counseling office contact ([email protected]) and encourage them to reach out for support."
How to set up moderation categories
Flint's moderation categories
Flint's moderation categories
Flint's categorization of flagged messages is based on OpenAI's content moderation rules. The different types of flagged messages are described in the table below.
Self-harm categories are mandatory — moderators must always receive notifications for self-harm, self-harm/intent, and self-harm/instructions. This cannot be disabled.
Category | Description |
Harassment | Content that expresses, incites, or promotes harassing language towards any target |
Harassment/Threatening | Harassment content that also includes violence or serious harm towards any target. |
Hate | Content that expresses, incites, or promotes hate based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, disability status, or caste. Hateful content aimed at non-protected groups (e.g., chess players) is harassment. |
Hate/Threatening | Hateful content that also includes violence or serious harm towards the targeted group based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, disability status, or caste. |
Illicit | Content that gives advice or instruction on how to commit illicit acts. A phrase like "how to shoplift" would fit this category. |
Illicit/Violent | The same types of content flagged by the "illicit" category, but also includes references to violence or procuring a weapon. |
Self-harm | Content that promotes, encourages, or depicts acts of self-harm, such as suicide, cutting, and eating disorders. |
Self-harm/Intent | Content where the speaker expresses that they are engaging or intend to engage in acts of self-harm, such as suicide, cutting, and eating disorders. |
Self-harm/Instructions | Content that encourages performing acts of self-harm, such as suicide, cutting, and eating disorders, or that gives instructions or advice on how to commit such acts. |
Sexual | Content meant to arouse sexual excitement, such as the description of sexual activity, or that promotes sexual services (excluding sex education and wellness). |
Sexual/Minors | Sexual content that includes an individual who is under 18 years old. |
Violence | Content that depicts death, violence, or physical injury. |
Violence/Graphic | Content that depicts death, violence, or physical injury in graphic detail. |
Relationship Building | Content where a student treats Sparky as a friend, confidant, or emotional support rather than a teaching assistant, such as sharing personal problems, seeking life advice, or expressing emotional attachment unrelated to academics. |
Setting moderation categories
Setting moderation categories
Configuring categories at the group level does not affect workspace-level settings, and vice versa.
Workspace level
Workspace level
Click "Settings & members" from the left sidebar
Click "Moderation and access" from the left sidebar
Click on one of the moderators in your workspace
Click on the dropdown menu under "Moderation categories for email notifications", check or uncheck the categories you want to enable or disable for this group
Click "Save" to save your changes
Group level
Group level
Click the group you want to configure
Click "Group settings"
Scroll down to "Moderation settings" in the left sidebar
Under "Moderation categories for email notifications", check or uncheck the categories you want to enable or disable for this group
Click "Update" to save your changes
How to manage moderators
📌 Tip: Every grade level in a workspace must have at least one moderator assigned. A moderator cannot be removed if doing so would leave any grade level without coverage.
Workspace level
Workspace level
When a staff member is designated as a moderator at the workspace level, they cover students in their assigned grade levels.
To add staff members as moderators:
Click "Settings & members" from the left sidebar
Click "Moderation and access" from the left sidebar
Click "Add moderator"
Click "Select a teacher or admin" and type in their name or select it from the dropdown
To assign grade levels to a moderator, Under "Grade levels", check or uncheck the grades you want to enable or disable for this moderator
Group level
Group level
When a staff member is designated as a moderator at the group level, they cover students in that group.
Click the group you want to configure
Click "Group settings"
Scroll down to "Moderation settings" in the left sidebar
Under "Content moderators", click on "Manage Members" to designate a content moderator.
Click on the text box under "Members" to add in a new moderator
Make sure their status is set to "Owner"
Click "Update" to save your changes
How to manage moderation notifications
📌 Tip: Both workspace and group moderators receive notifications based on the moderation categories that are selected for them.
See the Setting moderation categories section to adjust what categories moderators are notified about.
Viewing flagged messages
Viewing flagged messages
Workspace level
Workspace level
Navigate to the workspace homepage
Click on "Analytics"
Scroll down to the section titled "Inappropriate messages"
Click on a flagged message to access the chat where the message was flagged.
Group level
Group level
Click the group you want to view
Click on "View analytics"
Scroll down to the section titled "Inappropriate messages"
Click on a flagged message to access the chat where the message was flagged.
Email notifications
Email notifications
When a flagged message is detected, Flint immediately sends an email notification to the appropriate moderators:
The email comes from [email protected] with the subject line: "Review Required: Message Flagged for [moderation category]"
The email includes:
The student's name
The moderation category triggered
A link to view the full chat session
Moderators can access any chat for students within their assigned grade-level coverage directly from the email link. This allows moderators to review the full context and determine appropriate follow-up.