Division News

Division News

NSD launches new communication tool

Posted on January 22

Northland School Division (NSD) launched a new communication system. We selected School Messenger Communicate to send notifications to parents and guardians for emergencies, student attendance and other events taking place in the schools or across the division. Notifications are referred as “Broadcasts” because of the number of destinations to which the system can simultaneously deliver messages. Available broadcast destinations include Phone, Email, Short Message Services (SMS) Text and Facebook.

The contact information we use is collected during student registration and stored in our Student Information System (SIS) database. The database also includes emergency contacts. This data is updated every evening so that any changes to phone numbers, emails, and contact preferences will be current on every broadcast. We ask you to call or visit the school if contact information has changed.

Under a federal law originally designed to protect consumers from telemarketers, we have to get permission from parents and guardians to send messages to a mobile phone by voice call or SMS text. It’s also just a good idea so that we’re sure the message is going to the right phone number for the right person. This permission only is needed for automated voice calls and texts. Permission isn’t necessary for other calls from the school like you might get directly from a teacher, principal, or another staff member.

An Opt-In invitation text was sent to all mobile phone numbers uploaded from our Student Information System (SIS) on Wednesday, January 24, 2018. If you receive it, you have to reply “Y” or “Yes” to the invitation text message to “Opt-in”. If you did not receive the invitation text message or want to ensure you are registered, you can simply send a text message as follows:

To Opt-in:    Text “Y” to 978338

If at any time you would like to opt out of these messages, simply reply to one of the messages with "Stop". School Messenger is compliant with the Student Privacy Pledge so you can rest assured that your information is safe and will never be given or sold to anyone. If you have any questions please contact the school. Thank you.