Dear Parents/Guardians:
To enhance our existing safe arrival process for reporting student absences from school, we are excited to pilot a new, more efficient student absence reporting system called SafeArrival. This new system will help improve student safety, reduce the time it takes to verify student attendance, make it easy for you to report your student’s absence and easy for staff to respond to unexplained student absences.
With SafeArrival, you will be asked to report your student’s absence in advance using any of the following convenient methods:
- Mobile Device (Using the free SchoolMessenger App)
- SchoolMessenger (SafeArrival) Website
- Interactive Toll-free Phone Number
These three options will be available 24 hours/day, 7 days a week, and future absences may be reported at any time.
In addition, we will use the SchoolMessenger Communicate automated notification system to contact parents and guardians whose student is absent when the absence was not reported in advance.
The automated notification system will repeatedly attempt to contact parents/guardians at multiple contact points (email, text message or automated phone call) until you have submitted a reason for the absence.
If the automated notification system is unable to reach the designated contacts, office staff will follow up. As we have been doing when direct follow-up contact with parents/guardians cannot be reasonably made, we will then determine appropriate action. This may involve contact with the RCMP.
If you report your student’s absence in advance using the SafeArrival toll-free phone number, website or mobile app, you will NOT receive these notifications.
We will send you more details in the coming days on how to sign up and use the SafeArrival system.
Thank you for your support and cooperation as we implement this new system.
Sincerely,
Andrew MacLean
Acting Principal