Anyone who has worked “behind the scenes” in a school environment knows that efficient and effective communications are vital. Below we highlight 5 ways that SMS alerts (a.k.a. text messages) greatly improve school communications, and make things substantially better for students, staff, and parents alike.
1. Using SMS Alerts During Emergencies
The number one priority for schools is to ensure safety. SMS alerts instantly notify key individuals or groups — such as school leadership, staff, and/or parents — of hazardous or potentially hazardous scenarios (e.g. outbreak of E. coli in the cafeteria, inclement weather, unauthorized intruder on school grounds, etc.).
Follow-up SMS alerts can be subsequently sent to provide updates (e.g. “the National Weather Service has called off the hurricane warning for the county and forecasts calmer weather, but we are still monitoring the situation closely and all outdoor and extracurricular activities remain canceled at this time.”).
2. Using SMS Alerts to Remind Parents of Interviews/Appointments
Parents are busy, and may sometimes forget about a parent-teacher interview or other appointments with a teacher or school administrator. Or they may remember the interview/appointment but misremember the day and time. SMS alerts are a highly effective way to prevent no-shows.
3. Using SMS Alerts to Promote School Events
SMS alerts promote and remind parents, alumni, community members, and other individuals of various school events, such as plays, concerts, homecoming games, science fairs — and the list goes on. This not only increases attendance and school spirit but also boosts fundraising.
4. Using SMS Alerts to Enhance Field Trips
Most students love field trips because it’s a welcome break from the day-to-day classroom routine. However, some trip leaders and volunteer parents are not as thrilled with the experience, because coordinating large groups of students — and especially ensuring that none of them wander off — can be challenging and stressful.
Schools can significantly reduce the risk of losing students by using SMS alerts to send out itineraries and instructions as groups move from one station/location to the next. And, in the event, a student(s) does get lost, SMS alerts help coordinate the search.
5. Using SMS Alerts to Provide Internal Updates
In a school environment, plans are constantly changing — such as the date/time of faculty meetings, room availability, etc. Rather than calling various staff members (and probably getting voicemail in most cases), schools can simply send out group SMS alerts to inform all relevant individuals of the change. And since the average person checks their smartphone 96 times per day, it is a virtual certainty that recipients will get the message rapidly.
Learn More
Contact Carolina Digital Phone to learn more about using SMS alerts to boost communications in your school, while you reap the rewards of our all-in-one cloud phone system. Our solution is trusted and highly recommended by school districts and private academies throughout North Carolina and the Southeast, including Bertie County Schools, Graham County Schools, Moore County Schools, Yadkin County Schools, Tandem Friends Schools, Noble Academy, and many others.
Get ready to move your school ahead! Call us now at (336) 544-4000, or chat with us by clicking the icon on the lower-left of your screen.
