School Security

Swiftreach Enters K-12 Alert Fray

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 02/25/10

The K-12 emergency notification industry has a new entrant that has traditionally sold into the municipal public safety market. Swiftreach recently launched SwiftK12, a version of its alerting service designed specifically for K-12. The system can send automated phone messages, text, e-mail, and pager alerts.

SwiftK12, like other such services, is hosted. Unique features include an automated attendance alerting feature that can group people by location or other characteristics, as well as an inbound toll-free hotline that can provide additional information about the situation. Administrators can program a caller ID for each message to allow subscribers to see which department has initiated the calls.

SwiftK12 can also translate text into several languages and convert text to speech so parents and staff members can select the language they want alerts delivered in. The service provides a self-serve Web portal where subscribers can update and maintain their own contact information.