How One-Way Communications Can Help School Districts Keep Families Informed and Engaged

On September 8, 2020, the Armadillo Community Charter School in Phoenix, Oregon, was facing a dangerous situation when the Almeda Fire ignited nearby. The more than 3,000-acre blaze was the most destructive wildfire in Oregon’s history. ACCS small staff knew that it needed to reach displaced families with critical information about the unfolding disaster.

Fortunately, the school had previously adopted SchoolStatus Connect to manage all its school-to-family communication, and that included broadcasting one-way announcements in states of emergency. As a result, ACCS was able to update families in real time with evacuation notices, power-outage information, and resources for food, housing, shelter, and mental health resources.

SchoolStatus Connect’s One-Way Features

While the Almeda Fire was an unusual situation, ACCS’ reliance on SchoolStatus Connect illustrates how school districts must be able to rely on a highly efficient, one-way communication system that meets its needs at the district, school, and classroom levels.

SchoolStatus’ platform connects families and educators through data-driven solutions that empower family engagement and student success through integrated communications and other capabilities. Its easy-to-use, centralized communication hub, SchoolStatus Connect, has numerous features that allow teachers, schools, and districts to establish meaningful connections with each student’s family.

For one-way communication, SchoolStatus Connect enables school districts to keep families and students informed with:

• Mass notifications
• Electronic newsletters
• Mobile-friendly app
• 100+ languages translation feature

In the case of the Almeda Fire, SchoolStatus Connect’ features served as a vital information lifeline to ACCS families. For example, many families had lost internet access and needed a way to receive messages on their cell phones. Also, Spanish was the primary language for many family members.

There are many different uses in which SchoolStatus Connect can fulfill the needs of school districts using its one-way communication capability:

Putting Out “Fires” Every Day

SchoolStatus’s community-engagement platform unlocks the power of data to bring families, administrators, and educators together around information that matters most. When ACCS was facing a serious emergency, SchoolStatus Connect kept everyone in its community informed and connected. The same can be accomplished in school districts everywhere, through features that meet its needs for one-way, as well as two-way and 1:1, communication.