SchoolMessenger School Notification is a product of Henrico County Public Schools (HCPS)

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2 1 SchlMessenger: Staff and Parent Cmmunicatin Henric Cunty, Virginia Shrt Overview SchlMessenger Schl Ntificatin is a prduct f Henric Cunty Public Schls (HCPS) that assists the schl divisin with simplifying cmmunicatin t parents and staff members. It cmbines a ntificatin system, a mbile applicatin and Web-based cntent management with an easy-t-use interface. It prvides an efficient, autmated way t cmmunicate things like student absences, late penings, snw days, urgent calls t parents abut campus issues and general news. Prduct users can create custmized recipient lists, define call types, generate cmputermessages r recrd persnal messages. They can designate what methd (call r ) will be used fr sending the cmmunicatin. SchlMessenger features analytics-reprts that can be ed t the user r generated manually. T summarize, this system is reliable, easy t use and prvides the flexibility t effectively cmmunicate with ur cmmunity. It s prven capable f successfully delivering high vlumes f calls r messages efficiently with reliability and speed. The Prblem/Challenge/Situatin Our divisin as well as ur 72 individual schls needed a quick, efficient, autmated way t cmmunicate messages abut student absences, late penings, snw days, urgent calls t parents abut campus issues and general news. There was a time that messages t the parent/guardian f ur students and even ur staff was delivered hme thrugh a memrandum via the student backpack, U.S. Mail r if urgent in nature, thrugh the lcal media. With the

3 2 SchlMessenger: Staff and Parent Cmmunicatin Henric Cunty, Virginia desire fr a mre autmated delivery, we needed a way t relay messages thrugh cmputer generated calls, s and text messages. Hw the Prgram Was Carried Out SchlMessenger is a prduct that assists the schl divisin with simplifying staff and parent cmmunicatins. It cmbines a ntificatin system, a mbile applicatin and Web-based cntent management with an easy-t-use interface. Schl ntificatins can cver students, parent/guardian and even staff. The messages can include infrmatin regarding schl emergency alerts, as well as attendance and lunch balance ntificatins. Cmmunicatins can be sent thrugh vice, text, , scial media, web and push ntificatins. The schl system can custmize it t meet their needs. Users can create and stre templates fr repeat messages. Districts can custmize templates t include their lg r custm statements t share with their parent/guardian r staff cmmunities. Our divisin ffice uses this prduct t cmmunicate new prcesses, changes t schl r after schl activities, schl clsings r emergency/critical ntificatins. Our schl principals use this prgram t send ut weekly updates t parents abut the things happening within the schl fr the upcming week. This replaces a paper newsletter and saves wrk effrt and dllars n paper and mailings. Our schl nutritin ffice has a feed f all students with a negative balance and a call and ges hme every Sunday t allw parent/guardian t update the student s lunch accunt t ensure they have enugh mney fr schl breakfast and lunch r they bring their lunch.

4 3 SchlMessenger: Staff and Parent Cmmunicatin Henric Cunty, Virginia Our schl transprtatin ffice uses this prduct t ntify parents f a late bus and/r a change in the bus schedule. We are currently wrking n a review f ther manual effrts t see if SchlMessenger culd be a ptential replacement t thse paper cmmunicatins. Fr example, we have a prcess nw fr all f the Specialty Center Applicants (high schl centers) where acceptance packets are handled thrugh the mail. We wuld like t share the acceptance packets with the parent/guardian and student thrugh a link that is ed hme. Parents wuld then be given a link t the nline dcumentatin tl t review and cmplete the nline packet. Objectives: Deliver messages quickly and easily Create custm recipient lists Create custm bradcasts Design custm message types (nn-emergency, emergency, attendance, et al) Custmize delivery methd (call, , text) Create reprts Time frame fr develpment and implementatin: Summer Set up administrative users by schl using imprted PwerSchl data frm human resurces department Trained users Cmmunicatins began in early August Onging maintenance:

5 4 SchlMessenger: Staff and Parent Cmmunicatin Henric Cunty, Virginia Update data fr schl administrative changes Train any new users Clientele: Staff Parents Students Cunty s rle in implementatin: Henric Cunty Public Schls prvided resurces t assist with the prduct s adptin, including a prject manager, tw lead implementatin specialists and a database administratr. Technlgy implementatin included the fllwing prducts: SchlMessenger website custmized fr HCPS Financing and Staffing Cst Annual cst: $64,990 Operating csts: nne, althugh the implementatin and training required sme HCPS staff resurces. HCPS staff time required t implement prgram: Implementatin: HCPS Department f Operatinal Technlgy implementatin team: 100 hurs

6 5 SchlMessenger: Staff and Parent Cmmunicatin Henric Cunty, Virginia Prject manager: 10 hurs Tw lead implementatin specialists: 25 hurs Database administratr: 40 hurs Supprt and maintenance: Supprt fr training and maintenance: 10 hurs per mnth Database administratr: 20 hurs per year Prgram Results SchlMessenger allws ur users t deliver messages quickly and easily thrugh an intuitive interface using just a few clicks. Users have the ability t send messages by cmputer, phne call-in r a mbile app. Because users can create custm recipient lists, messages can be targeted t specific grups f parents r staff. This makes cmmunicatin mre effective and reduces unwanted ntificatins t recipients. Messages r bradcasts can be custmized and delivered thrugh a phne call r via . We have als created a plan t begin text messaging in The system ffers senders the ptin t recrd a message in their wn vice r t type the message and select a cmputercreated male r female vice t deliver the message. Messages can be labeled with a particular message type, differentiating critical messages frm mre general cmmunicatins. Users can decide whether they want t receive analytics reprts abut their messages via r exprt reprts using the interface. Call reprts shw whether r nt a persn r a machine answered the call, and reprts shw whether an message was read, skimmed r deleted.

7 6 SchlMessenger: Staff and Parent Cmmunicatin Henric Cunty, Virginia Brief Summary SchlMessenger has becme a critical part f Henric Schls ability t efficiently deliver messages t staff and parents, bth at the level f ur 72 schls and divisin wide. SchlMessenger lets us reach ut t staff and parents directly withut having t rely n the media. It significantly increases the cnfidence that ur stakehlders are receiving crucial cmmunicatins. Supplemental Materials A test-user sample f the SchlMessenger dashbard: this is the first page a user sees upn lgin. The dashbard summarizes messages sent using a particular user name. Users have fur r five menus available, depending n their rle and assigned rights.

8 7 SchlMessenger: Staff and Parent Cmmunicatin Henric Cunty, Virginia The SchlMessenger custm lists feature: Als available are varius templates fr creating analytics reprts: