Emergency Notification
Emergency Notification System
Dear Strelitz & HAT Parents,
We subscribe to ParentReach, the Emergency Notifications Service created for schools by The Amfax Corporation, the same company that provides similar services to state health departments, unions, and other entities that need efficient and reliable notification capabilities at a minutes notice. This subscription will permit us to reach our children’s parents and guardians, as well as our staff and other related parties, more quickly and efficiently in the event of an emergency, a school closure, or an important announcement.
You will recognize an informational call as coming from us by the displayed Caller ID: “411-411-4111.” Please be sure to answer the call as you would normally answer. The system needs to “hear” your response to determine when to start delivering the message, as it is different for a live answer vs., an answering machine. Answer as you would normally, but do not continue to say, “Hello, hello, hello…” as it will begin delivering after detecting one second of silence.
The system works as follows:
In an emergency or for important announcements, a staff member will call into the ParentReach.com emergency notifications system to record an informational message. Our staff member will then choose a pre-stored list of parents and staff members. The broadcast begins immediately, and calls our entire list of parents and other stake holders. If it detects a busy line, it will call back up to ten times at three minute intervals and deliver the message when it connects to a live person or an answering/recording device.
We have entered all the phone contact information you have supplied to us; i.e., home number, cell number(s), work number(s) for both moms and dads, and all guardians. Please take this opportunity to let us know if your contact information has changed recently as the system can only be as accurate as the data we have on file.
You will likely receive the message at more than one phone, as we feel it is better to err on the side of caution in a real emergency. For a snow-day type announcement however, we will send the broadcasts only to the home phone numbers or a cell phone if no home number has been provided.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the school business office at 424-4327.
Sincerely,
Zena Herod, Head of School