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Welcome!

Todays Program: Technology and Communication in 2013 and Beyond will begin shortly

1When families are involved.STUDENTS:Earn higher grades and receive higher test scores.Attend school more regularly. Complete more homework. Demonstrate more positive attitudes and behaviors.

Why is Communication Important?The research says2In personHome PhoneU.S. Mail

Past Communication Methods

3Current Communication Methods In personHome PhoneU.S. MailMobile PhoneTextingWebsiteEmail

Mobile AppsInstgramFacebookPinterestTwitterVineRSS Feeds

4Future Communication Methods

LikedTweetingFollow Someone?Vine?FourSquare?CafeMom?5Communication Tip #1Find out how people like to be communicated with

6Control Voice, Text, and Email PreferencesMake instant Opt In/Opt Out elections (while notifying school)Review previous messagesUncompromising security

Communication Tip #1Find out how people like to be communicated with7Communication Tip #1Find out how people like to be communicated with

This is an example of our Parents App. It allows parents to opt in and out of different types of messages. Say for example, that they want to get a text when its about softball practice and a phone call when its an emergency. Parents can get that granular in their choices. 8Communication Tip #2Determine the goal of your messageParent engagementStudents of engaged parents perform better Parent notificationJust need to communicate informationSafetyYour message has to do with student safety Selling an ideaYou need support! Information GatheringYou need feedback

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Communication Tip #2Your goal determines your communication channelDifferent messages have different goals.

While its important to allow people to choose how they want to be communicated with, you still need to consider what youre communicating, and whats the best method for you to get your message out. Were going to go through and give you a sort of communication best practices based on what message you are sending.10Communication method is important

Voice True emergency - comfort in hearing your child is safe Weather-related closings Time-sensitive messages Attendance calling

Whats the best communication method?

Voice is best for some of the following True emergency - comfort in hearing your child is safe Weather-related closings Time-sensitive messages Attendance calling

11Communication method is important

Email Longer messages Regular weekly communications Newsletters Anything with attachments needed

Whats the best communication method?

Email is best for these Longer messages Regular weekly communications Newsletters Anything with attachments needed

12Communication method is important

Text Meeting reminders After-school activities updates Sports contest reminders

Whats the best communication method?

Texting is great when you are communicating these: Meeting reminders After-school activities updates Sports contest reminders13Communication method is important

Social Media General announcements General information Promoting your school

Whats the best communication method?

While not all schools are using social media, its best used to send your message when you are sending: General announcements General information Promoting your school

14Push to Social Network

SchoolReach offers an easy way to push your messages out via Facebook or Twitter. Its not to say that we wont push to other social networks in the future. Its just that weve found that these are the two social networks that the majority of schools that are using social media have chosen to use.

You can push to a social network on a message by message basis. Make sure whoever youre using for parent communication offers something like this.

15Communication method is important

Website First impression General information Promoting your school Reaching prospective families Welcome Letter from Principal

Whats the best communication method?

The internet is where prospective families shop for their childrens education and your website is a portal to your school. You only get one chance to make a first impression, make sure it counts. First impression General information Promoting your school Reaching prospective families Welcome Letter from Principal16800# parent and staff accessRecognize Caller ID for last message playbackSelective Message ReplayMessage Retrieval Line

The idea of a mass notification system is to reduce your workload and save you money. If every time you send a message your office is bombarded with inbound calls, youre not achieving what you set out to achieve.

Weve all heard stories of schools sending a mass message out with their office number on caller ID and parents might not answer it but they do call back to see what the message was about. Or maybe their toddler answered the phone and the message was done before their parent could get there.

We encourage our clients to use our Message Retireval Line number 855-955-8500 for caller ID. That way if a parent wants to hear a message they may have missed they can just dial that number from the phone that received the SchoolReach message and hear any of their messages from the previous 30 days.17Load this on your website and let parents know if a new message has been sent.New Messages Widget for Your School Website

RSS Feeds are great too. Even better, and more secure than an RSS Feed is the SchoolReach widget.

Schools can place this icon on their website and if a message has been sent within the last 36 hours, the icon will read NEW MESSAGES and the icon will be highlighted as you see it doing here on screen.

If there havent been any recent messages, it will read NO NEW MESSAGES and it will appear faded out.18

Communication Tip #3Timing is everythingWhats the best time of day?Timing is everything.

If its a general reminder perhaps you send it after dinner around 7:30pmIf its an attendance call for an elementary school student youll want to send it early in the school day because it could be a safety issueA school closing early in the morning of the cancellation, before people start leaving their homesEmails are best sent in the middle of the week, try to stay away from Mondays and Fridays if possible

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The right speaker makes the differenceKnow your audienceCommunication Tip #4Whos sending the message matters.

In times where their childs safety is involved, parents want to hear from the highest available authority at their students school, the Principal.

If its a fundraiser for the PTA, it makes sense to have the message from the head of that group.

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Shorter really is sweeterEnough saidCommunication Tip #5Your messages should not be too long, or you will lose your audience.

Calls need to be around 30 seconds long, too much longer and your message gets lost.

Many answering machines and voice mails only record for a short time, you dont want your message getting cut off.

Communicate one idea in any given message. Overloading too many different subjects can confuse the recipients and cloud your message.21Dont be that boy, PeterNo crying wolf!

Communication Tip #6Dont over communicate.

Sending a voice call to your entire school every night is information overload. Parents, for the large majority, are extremely appreciative of the communication they receive through systems like ours. Where you start to lose them is when you abuse your ability to send messages and do it everyday.

Like the boy who cried wolf, if you repeatedly are sending messages that are unnecessary, its unlikely the time you really do need to send a message that it will be heard.22Communication Tip #7Consistency is keyTheyre on the lookout!

Be consistent. If you have a Friday email newsletter to parents every week outlining what your school did that week and looking forward to the following week, send it consistently. Just because you may be at a conference one Friday, doesnt mean you should skip that week.

Just as children come to count on consistency, so do parents. Set the expectations, deliver what people expect, and deliver it on time. Youll build credibility and trust and your messages will be that much better received.23Communication Tip #8Have fun with it!Show your personality

Show your personality.

If youre communicating something exciting, be excited. No one wants to listen to a boring monotone voice, youve got a personality, let parents hear it. It will help them relate to you and they will in turn help you when you need parent volunteers and the like.24 Moving from Voice to Text Make sure the parents know they have a choice Use multiple communication methods Be consistent-same day/time each week Teacher-to-parentsSuccessful messaging tactics used by other schools

Here are some successful messaging tactics used by other schools.

Many are cognizant of the shift from voice to text as a preferred mode of communication for an ever-younger parent generation.

Let parents know how to choose their communication preferences

Consistency. Consistency. Consistency.

More and more schools are allowing teachers to communicate directly with parents using teacher-level messaging options.25 Recorded wake-up calls: from the principal for tardy students Recorded readings: Read portions of a book during book weeks asking children and parents to work together to identify where the excerpts came from Food drives: for local community pantries Contests: to win a chance to record a SchoolReach message Celebrity phone calls: NFL star Steven Jackson recorded a SchoolReach message and encouraged students to attend the first day of school Successful messaging tactics used by other schools

Recorded wake-up calls: Have your Principal record a wake up call for tardy students. It lets students know that theyre accountable to be at school. Weve even had some schools where the students have requested a call from their Principal to wake them up, they actually look forward to it!

Recorded readings: During literacy campaigns send a recorded voice call where you read a portion of a book and ask parents and children to identify what book it came from. Give a prize to the children who come into school the next day with the right answer. Weve had schools do this and many children were asking their parents to read instead of the other way around.

Food drives: Our user story contest winner a few years ago was a charter school in Tucson Arizona that happened to be located right behind where Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot. This school took it upon themselves to raise money for a local food pantry that was one of Senator Giffords favorite charities. Despite the fact 74% of this schools population was low income, 8% were homeless, 11% were teen parents and 66% of the students were working and were the sole bread winners in their home, they were able to bring in a total of 1122 cans of food and $219 thanks to a message sent to school families following the tragedy. That worked out to over 4 cans per student in a school where many people didnt even make enough money to feed themselves.

Contests: Many schools have chosen to offer students the chance to record a SchoolReach message so that they could say something to the entire school. Kids love it and vie for the opportunity to record a message.

Celebrity phone calls: One St. Louis school had NFL superstar Steven Jackson record a message and encourage kids to attend the first day of school, significantly and positively impacting first-day attendance for the school.

26What you didnt think about Everyone is busy Students have cell phones - beating them to the punch is hard Non-traditional families ESL Multiple children at different schools - communication overload

What you didnt think about Everyone is busy Students have cell phones - beating them to the punch is hard Non-traditional families ESL Multiple children at different schools - communication overload

27Communication Best PracticesWhat to Consider

Communications Mapping. Align to school objectivesCommunicating with Impact.Best practices to improve the perception of your school.Communications Audit. Do we need to change or enhance the way we are communicating?Communications Mapping. Align to school objectivesCommunicating with Impact.Best practices to improve the perception of your school.Communications Audit. Do we need to change or enhance the way we are communicating? 1. Look back and see if you are communicating effectively, do you need to consider adding social media to your communication mix. 2. Should you move towards texting?28Mobile appiPad, iPhone & Android accessTeacher / Staff level accessDeep SIS integration (PowerSchool)Targeted demographic communication

Trends in Rapid Notification

All of these things are trending in rapid notification right now

Mobile appiPad, iPhone & Android accessTeacher / Staff level accessDeep SIS integrationTargeted demographic communication

29Smart Phone Apps for Launch

Make sure you can access your mass notification system wherever you are.

You need to be able to access it from a ComputerTouch tone phoneSmartphoneTabletAnywhere you are!30SimpleControlledSecureRestricted staff access granted only by main administratorStaff Account ManagerEmpower Staff & Faculty with Broadcast Messaging

Staff Account ManagerLet teachers communicate with their classrooms, let coaches communicate with their teams

SimpleControlledSecure

Restricted staff access granted only by main administrator

31MultiCastFuturistic Features in SchoolReach

Number Tracker

Futuristic New Features in SchoolReach

MultiCastBad Number Tracker32Analyzes all numbers in your call list EVER calledAssigns probability of connectingHelps reach out to contacts for updates

Number Tracker

Bad Number TrackerAnalyzes all numbers in your call list EVER calledAssigns probability of connectingHelps reach out to contacts for updates

One principal in Kansas reported having 30 numbers that he had never been able to get through to. After trying Bad Number Tracker one time, he was able to get 20 of those 30 people give him good contact numbers

33MultiCast Feature for SchoolReach ExpressOne button launch

Send Voice, Email, and Text Messages with the click of a button!34

We have more phone lines than some Telephone Companies.We can sometimes exceed the capacity of the terminating office to deliver telephone callsWe have more phone lines than some Telephone Companies.We can sometimes exceed the capacity of the terminating office to deliver telephone calls

35Send Messages from Inside of PowerSchool

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Parent Contact Preferencesfor PowerSchool

Make sure your communications provider offers the ability to launch mass phone call, email and text messages from directly inside of PowerSchool.

37Real-Time Results

for PowerSchool

Get real-time queries of your PowerSchool data or launch to your stored searches

38for PowerTeacher

Leverage the power of SchoolReach at teacher levelSelect custom groups and contact type

Leverage the power of SchoolReach at teacher levelSelect custom groups and contact type

39How do Kids Like to Communicate?

More emerging technology

How do kids like to communicate? Just ask them and then theyll text you their answer.yes, as you know its texting!!!40Integrate with Existing Systems

Find a notification system that integrates not only with PowerSchool but with

Folletts for LibraryMealTime for lunch balanceVersatrans for busesand so many more

If it can output a list, SchoolReach can integrate with it.41Demonstrated history of integration success with all Pearson productsNearly 1,000,000 SchoolReach clients using Pearson SIS productOver 3,000,000 records auto-loaded nightlySupporter of state and national PowerSchool user groups

Work with an established Pearson partner, SchoolReach was one of the first approved ISV Partners inside of Pearson. Go with a proven communications solution.42Superior Technology=Superior Results

ISDN Lineshigher quality connection gives you more capabilitiesCell phones & short codesDial extensionsReal time reportingSuperior securityLocal switch load balancing

If your message doesnt get to the targeted recipient, its useless. Give yourself all the advantages to make sure your message is heard by making sure your provider offers the following:

ISDN Lineshigher quality connection gives you more capabilitiesCell phones & short codesDial extensionsReal time reportingSuperior securityLocal switch load balancing

43Superior Technology=Superior Results

Multiple redundant data centersNo single point of failureSynchronous Optical Network (SONET)99.999% uptimeEnormous call capacityOperate at less than 2% of capacity

Look for these capabilities as well:

Multiple redundant data centersNo single point of failureSynchronous Optical Network (SONET)99.999% uptimeEnormous call capacityOperate at less than 2% of capacity

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The biggest problem with bully prevention is reporting.

- Sean Burke, President School Safety Advocacy Council The biggest problem with bully prevention is reporting.

452-Way Anonymous Texting

How do you encourage bully reporting? Meet kids where they live on their mobile phones, texting.

Enable 2-way anonymous texting and keep your learning environment safe.46

Who Does the CyberBully Hotline Help? The bully The bullied The bystander

CyberBully Hotline helps the bullied and the bystander. Giving bystanders the ability to report discreetly is so important in reducing bullying incidents.47

How Does it Work?Heres how it works:

Student texts a messageSchool official receives notification of the message on their phone (while keeping their phone number anonymous) and through emailStudent receives an acknowledgement messageSchool official sends reply, gathering more information or outlining action that will take placeDoor remains open for two-way anonymous texting conversation to take place.48Thank You!www.schoolreach.com/powerschoolwww.cyberbullyhotline.com

For more information please contact:Hal Queen704-618-3690hqueen@schoolreach.com49