NEW ATTENDANCE AND EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEM

AT ASHLAND HIGH SCHOOL

Dear Parent,

Ashland High School is moving to a new system for DALY ATTENDANCE NOTIFICATION, EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION and GENERAL SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENTS. Please read!

In our effort to improve communication between parents and school, Ashland High School is implementing a telephone broadcast system that will enable school personnel to notify all households and parents by phone within minutes of an emergency or unplanned event that causes early dismissal, school cancellation or late start. The service will become available in the next few weeks. The service may also be used from time-to-time to communicate general announcements or reminders. This service is provided by SchoolReach, a company specializing in school-to-parent communications. Ashland High School will continue to report school closings due to snow or weather on local radio stations and the district web site at http://ashland.k12.or.us/

For DAILY UNEXCUSED ABSENCES, the system will call the PRIMARY PHONE number you indicate. By default, this number is the home phone number provided on your child’s registration form. You may select another number, such as your cell phone, by logging in to your PowerSchool parent account (see instructions blow). You will need to choose from the numbers you provided when you registered your child. If you have a new telephone number that is not on the list in PowerSchool, you may contact your school’s office manager to update your child’s information. You may also choose a SECONDARY PHONE for attendance calls. By default, no SECONDAY PHONE is selected.

FOR EMERGENCIES, the service will call PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PHONES, and if selected, a TEST MESSAGE will be sent. [Please note: If students have a registered cell phone, they will receive EMERGENCY TEXT MESSAGES ONLY.]

For GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS, we may provide EMAILS, TEXT MESSAGES (if selected) or paper mailings depending on the nature of the messages.

When voice messages are left, the service will deliver the message to both live answers and answering machines. No answers (phones ringing over 40 sec.) and busies will be automatically retried twice in fifteen minute intervals after the initial call.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

1.  This requires NO registration by the parent on the SchoolReach website.

2.  SchoolReach uses only those phone numbers you provided during school registration. You can select which phone to use for PRIMARY, SECONDARY and TEXT by logging in to PowerSchool Parent.

a.  Click on “Account Preferences” on the left side bar of the start page.

b.  Select the SchoolReach tab.

3.  If you want to use a phone number other than those you provided during registration, please contact Ashland High School’s front office.

4.  All information and contact numbers are strictly secure and confidential and are only used for the purposes described herein.

Here is some specific information you should know:

·  Caller ID: The Call ID will display 541-482-8771, which is the main

number for Ashland High School.

·  Live Answers: There is a short pause at the beginning of the message,

usually a few seconds. Answer your phone as you normally would; “hello” and hold for the message to begin. Multiple “hellos” will delay the message. Inform all family members who may answer your phone of this process.

·  Answering Machines: The system will detect that your machine has answered and will play

the recording to your machine. The phone will ring for up to 40 seconds. Make sure that your machine answers after four rings or you may miss the message.

·  Message Repeat: At the end of the message you will be prompted to ‘press any key’ to hear the message again. This is very helpful when a child answers the

phone and hands it to a parent, who can then ‘repeat’ the message in its entirety.

If you receive an ATTENDANCE CALL and you are calling to EXCUSE an absence, you can leave a message for the Attendance Secretary at 1-866-346-2907.

We are excited to provide this service to our families. If you have any questions or feedback, we’d like to hear from you. Please contact your school’s front office staff or Principal.

Please let us know what you think. Thank you.

Principal