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SchoolMessenger Notification

January 27, 2021

The District shared information about the roll out of a new notification system for parental outreach. Please read the following letter from our Superintendent of Schools.

January 26, 2021

Dear students and parents/guardians, 

Re: SchoolMessenger Notification 

As a District, we are always striving to improve communications with our students and their families. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have learned there is a critical need for fast, accurate, and responsive communications to help keep our community healthy and safe. Emergencies and unforeseen events can happen from time to time, and when they do, they often require urgent messages to be sent to our school community. The District is excited to be rolling out a new tool called SchoolMessenger to all schools across the District to help enhance communications for students and parents/guardians. Some schools in the secondary and middle school level are already using SchoolMessenger. We look forward to expanding its function at these schools. 

What is SchoolMessenger? 

  • A notification service for parental outreach, emergency broadcasts, school information, student attendance alerts, secure file delivery, and other communications for education. 
  • A safe and secure service that enables schools to communicate in a timely matter, and ensure messages are received without delay or issues caused by email filtering or blocking. 
  • A service which makes use of recorded phone messages, emails, and text messages (optional to opt-in) to relay important information to students and parents/guardians.  
  • A service which makes use of contact information found on MyEDBC (provincial information system) to relay messages. (No action required to receive the service except for text message notifications requires parents/guardians to opt-in) 
  • A service that will NOT replace other communication methods. (e.g., parents/guardians can continue to access and connect with administrators via phone, email, and TEAMS meetings as usual). 

When will SchoolMessenger be in place?  

  • Schools will begin testing the service with their school communities as soon as possible.  
  • Each school community will be communicating their own schedule for testing and information about what parents can expect.  
  • Once testing is completed, the service is expected to operate fully by February 17, 2021.  

What do families need to do in preparation for the new notification service? 

  • Read this information to get familiar with the service and know what to expect. An infographic about the tool is here.   
  • Ensure your contact information on MyEDBC is up to date (email addresses and phone numbers). Please contact the school to make changes. 
  • If contact information is up to date, you will automatically receive phone and email messages.  
  • If you want to take advantage of the text message notification service (optional), please follow the attached instructions. If you have already opted-in by responding to an earlier text message sent by the District, no further action is needed. Instructions to opt-in are here. 
  • Review messages sent during testing phase and provide feedback to the school if you experience any issues. 

 What are attendance alerts and when will they be sent? 

The school will be sending home a message to alert students and parents/guardians of any unexcused absences related to their child. Students are expected to attend all assigned classes. If a student’s absence from class has not been permitted or communicated to the school by their parent/guardian, the school will send an attendance alert to the child’s primary contact and/or secondary contact. In general, these attendance alerts are sent at approximately 9:30 a.m. for elementary schools and after period absences for secondary schools (time dependent on school schedule). This alert aims to ensure a student is safe and secure and is meeting their education expectations. 

As is the case with any new system, there may be some unexpected challenges or adjustments needed to be made in the coming weeks. We ask for your patience as we work together to get the service running smoothly. Thank you for your ongoing support. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your school administrator.  

 

Sincerely,  

 Gord Stewart

Superintendent of Schools