New York District Simplifies Emergency Contact Management

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 05/11/11

A three-school New York district has implemented an emergency notification service that provides a way for parents and guardians to fill out contact information for their children online and through mobile devices. Croton-Harmon School District, with 1,800 students, recently adopted K12 Alerts from Message Logix. This Web-based service provides a way for the district to relay emergency or other types of messages via voice calls, e-mails, and text messages.

The district said it would be using K12 Alerts Electronic Emergency Card, a portal that provides constituents with digital access to their contact information for updating.

"We used to mail emergency cards home for parents to complete each summer," said Superintendent Edward Fuhrman Jr. "The new … system allows our parents to quickly verify [and] update any guardian, caregiver, early dismissal permissions, and doctor and allergy information in a parent-friendly interface, 24/7."

That, in turn, he added, will reduce districts administration costs, streamline operations, and provide staff with more update-to-date information. "Parents will easily access and update their child's emergency information via any computer connected to the Internet, iPad, and/or a smart phone using a secure ID and password. We are excited about the new system and preliminary feedback has been very positive."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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