Technology Services

Parentlink at a Glance

Parentlink At-a-Glance (K-12)

Overview

Parentlink is an automated messaging system that facilitates school-to-home communication via phone or e-mail. Parentlink was first used in the district in 2005-2006 by both high schools and PPMS, expanded to WHMS in the spring of 2006, and by Tonawanda in the summer of 2006. In 2007, the savings from a re-negotiated telecommunications contract at the district level, were used to purchase Parentlink for all schools, and continue to pay for the annual subscription fee. Elmbrook's first, all-District call was made in the Winter of 2008 when school was closed due to bad weather, reaching 9,500 parents and students in less than 10 minutes.

Technology Plan Goal Addressed

• Goal #1: Integrate Technology with Student Learning Initiatives
• Goal #2: Support Continuous Improvement through the Development or Acquisition of New Applications
• Goal #3: Maintain System Integrity

Existing Elmbrook Environment

Parentlink has the potential to communicate attendance, grades, book fines, late buses, activity information, school announcements, meeting reminders, and closings. In some fashion all but grades have been communicated to our stakeholders by at least one school in our district.

2007-2008 Activity Summary

Goals

Entering our 2^nd year of full use of the communication tool, the SDE has an opportunity to integrate Parentlink into a more comprehensive district strategy. Goals for the year include:

• Test emergency message to all stakeholders in the fall as part of disaster planning
• Develop core expectations of use for all schools and train staff accordingly
• Explore the mass e-mail and survey functionality of Parentlink and determine if/how they align with our strategic initiatives
• Communicate with Parents consistent expectations for use throughout our K-12 system
• Decision on whether to explore use of Parentlink at the classroom/activity level

Resources Needed

• Continued support of $20,000 annual subscription fee from District Telecommunications budget
• Training resources from CAO (HelpDesk Technician) and time to train key administrative staff

Primary Contact(s)

• Chris Thompson (x1163) - Strategic use
• Jean Loepfe (x411) - Training and support

Key Dates/Timeline for Implementation

• August, 2008 - Training for new administrators or refresher for existing administrative staff
• October, 2008 - Test of emergency system with an All-District call to all emergency numbers
• December, 2008 - Baseline expectations of use, communicate use intentions to parents
• January, 2009 - analyze use of the product (1^st semester)
• June, 2009 - analyze use of the product for 2008-2009

Related Initiatives

• Disaster Planning
• Communication with Stakeholders
• Survey strategy

Key Talking Points

• Parentlink is an efficient method to communicate critical and important information, reaching up to 10,000 households in less than 10 minutes
• Each message can be targeted to particular stakeholder groups (i.e. Parents of 6^th graders, high school students in band, students who ride bus # xxx) at a particular school or across the district
• Expedient message delivery is a critical component to our disaster planning and emergency response system
• Regular use of the system and analysis of key reports allows us to identify inactive phone numbers maintaining the integrity of our student contact data
• Contact information for both staff and students is pulled from Infinite Campus nightly updating information daily. Attendance information is automatically sent for each of the secondary schools and calls are made either mid-day (Middle School) or early evening (high school) for any unexecused absences.