SUCCESS

Elk River Area School District

The Challenge

In January of 2009 the Elk River Area School District in Minnesota received information that there would be severe weather conditions, which turned into 82 hours of sub-zero temperatures. The superintendent wanted to relay information to parents quickly about the bad weather, possible school closings or delays, and the cold weather clothing students would need. Notifying parents quickly and efficiently was very important to the district at this critical point in time.

The Solution

Elk River, still in implementation with ParentLink, needed to send out messages immediately. With limited training, and virtually no experience, Communications Manager Casey Mahon, was able to effectively send a message that day followed by several others that week. Each message was targeted to deliver critical, time-sensitive information, advising the parents to visit the district Web site for continual updates.

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Stamford Public Schools

The Challenge

Stamford Public Schools was looking for new ways to increase attendance at their Teacher-Parent Workshops. The goal was to improve parent turn-out to their next workshop on the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT), which held a history of poor attendance. In this workshop, parents are given useful tips and tools to help their children perform better on state exams. By increasing these test scores, Stamford Public Schools was confident that it could increase student performance.

The Solution

Stamford Public Schools expanded their use of the ParentLink system. “When our district first got ParentLink for emergencies only, I was happy, but I couldn’t wait until I could use it to contact parents for other reasons,” said Beryl Williams, the School Resource Facilitator. ParentLink provided her with consulting and training services designed to support one of the district’s goals—to increase positive communications with their parents.

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Albuquerque Public Schools

The Challenge

The Albuquerque School District’s lunch program was in debt $140,000. In addition to reducing the debt, Albuquerque needed to enroll students in the reduced or free lunch program. Before ParentLink, Albuquerque was limited in their ways to inform and communicate with Parents about the debt and lunch program.

The Solution

Albuquerque developed a new lunch policy to reduce the district debt. Students beyond a threshold debt would receive a courtesy lunch, as opposed to the standard hot lunch. To notify the parents of the change in policy and reminders on past due accounts, the district turned to their ParentLink service as the way to perform this task. They began sending reminders one month before the change.

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