There was a time, when you could ditch class, or show up late because you were getting one of those warm, half-cooked chocolate chip cookies from the cafeteria. You could take the bus home from school and before your parents got home from work, delete the message on the answering machine from school saying you were late, or not in class at all. Thanks to much more advanced technology, this scenario today is impossible. As face to face family engagement goes down, digital engagement is on the rise. For example, we no longer have the dad following his daughter on a date at the mall, because he now tracks where her cell phone is. With schools, there’s less of a need to check in on the school attendance policy and to see how your child is doing, when their grades can be tracked in real time through school communication and the student information system.
The same thing goes for notifications. Managing just one child and their schedule can be a full-time job, on top of most families' work and household duties! To practice effective communication in schools where it’s easy to engage, having a built-in notification system for Auto Notices in your school CMS is key.
Families are flooded with information from schools, and having to sift through what applies to their child is a daunting task - especially for full-time working families. What if schools could send personalized messages only to the individual families who need to hear it, and save time doing it?
Let’s explore some ways Auto Notices would be helpful to families and the school:
The school attendance policy my vary from school to school, but being tardy or absent is pretty clear. Notify for tardiness and attendance in classes. Families only receive notifications if their child was not in class or late. Hopefully they don’t get too many of those!
If a balance for the cafeteria goes below a certain dollar amount, a notification is triggered, reminding families to add more money to their student account.
If there is an annual activity fee that needs to be paid, this would be a great way to remind families who haven’t paid yet.
Start the reminders well before summer to try to collect the stragglers. Families may not even know what’s just sitting in a locker, under the bed, or under a car seat.
For the lucky schools who have film programs and rent out video equipment, musical instruments, or even Chromebooks, auto notices are a great way to streamline the rental process.
What an easy way to remind families when tuition is due—or overdue. Set these up for one day, a week, and a month late. No more hunting down families in drop off or pick up lines.
Nudge families who haven’t completed their annual information forms. Better yet, make these forms digital to automate the process even further!
As students enroll each semester, families will know what’s due and when.
Now, families receive customized messages and schools will have more time (that’s the goal). Students will still be crafty in getting that half-cooked warm cookie during class when the cafeteria lines are shorter. But there will be no interception of an email or text message on parents’ cell phones, because that would be impossible. Families today are working longer hours, and have to fight that much harder to stay engaged with their children’s schools. It’s our job to make that fight a little easier, and effective communication in schools through Auto Notices can help.