St. Croix Falls School District, Saint Croix Falls WI

SCF School District has purchased the Global Connect Instant Alert for Schools Program, which should aid in the very important need to communicate with families. The SCF School District was looking for a way to get a hold of parents instantly. Global Connect Instant Alert should help alleviate the uncertainty of whether or not parents and their children receive emergency notices such as weather related delays or athletic practice/game changes. Global Connect is a web-based notification service that allows Superintendent Glenn Martin to broadcast a message instantly to any or all contact points that parents provide the district. The new service provides an alternate to the traditional communication methods such as phone trees or sending messages home with students. The District can now immediately communicate with parents by way of the Internet, cell phones, home phones, pagers, email, and text messages. The communication link depends on what information the parents provide the District. The building principals will send letters home and parents must update information by completing and returning the form. According to Global Connect, if there is an emergency, Mr. Martin will either create a message online or call Global Connect’s service response center. The Center will immediately broadcast the message to each contact point that the parents have either assigned on their returned form or that which the District already has. All parents will then receive the same message in either text form or through a voice message. Having this setup will help deter rumors which many times occur when an emergency situation occurs. Not only will communicating weather delays become easier, the SCF Activities Director, Kelly Anderson is planning to utilize this program to inform parents of sports related cancellations, community education class cancellations or changes, and other important information. The District should be able to target different groups based on things such as grades, schools, or specific events. Not only will Instant Alert save time, the accuracy and efficiency when informing people will be much improved. Questions concerning situations should be at a minimum. Whether it is a weather closure, softball game cancellation, or bomb threat, Instant Alert will make sure that parents are informed at all times, providing another instance where the School District is looking out for the safety of its students. The bottom line is, Global Connect Instant Alert enables parents or children’s guardians to designate how they would like to be reached during an emergency. Therefore, it is very important that parents and guardians complete the information form when they receive it and return it to the correct school as soon as possible.