The Kenton County School district began using the CommunitySafe application in 2005 because of its speed and reliability. The district wanted an effective way to communicate closing and delay information to parents, students and faculty, as well as general informational messages.

Mr. Culross explains, “CommunitySafe has been excellent in training, working with individual schools, and supporting any and all questions and requests we have had.”

With over 1,800 staff members and 14,000 students enrolled in the district’s 18 facilities, school administrators were in need of a way to communicate to all of these people quickly and easily in the event of an emergency.

Since adopting CommunitySafe, Kenton County School District began sending messages to parents about various concerns and issues. School administrators have received positive feedback from parents and staff about CommunitySafe.

“The support staff of CommunitySafe is always there, whenever we need them. They are very helpful and always have our best interest in mind.”

The College of Mount St. Joseph began using CommunitySafe in September 2007 as a tool to address emergency weather closings and delays, and other crisis situations. Initially, the College of Mount St. Joseph chose CommunitySafe because of its low cost, and its pairing with Cincinnati Bell.

Mr. Weber explains, “The training and support have been wonderful. The individuals at CommunitySafe are easy to work with and very responsive. They have been GREAT!”

With over 240 faculty members and 2,300 students enrolled in the Mount, school administrators needed a way to communicate to all of these people in the event of an emergency. CommunitySafe has acted as the perfect resource to disperse crucial information when minutes count.

Since implementing this system, the College of Mount St. Joseph has been primarily sending voice and text messages to relay information. School administrators have received encouraging feedback from faculty and students.

“Our faculty is very appreciative of a system like CommunitySafe. Tools like these can only make life easier for people with already busy lives.”

Northwest Local Schools began using CommunitySafe one year ago to notify parents of emergency situations and to relay important closing or delay information to parents, students and staff.

With 9,600 students and 1,100 staff in 14 different facilities, CommunitySafe enables all parties to receive information in a timely and convenient manner. For school administrators, CommunitySafe has been a time-saving and efficient tool. Instead of manually calling thousands of households, CommunitySafe’s technology allows messages to be sent within minutes. With CommunitySafe you will be confident that all groups will receive the same message!

Mr. Carroll says, “The staff at CommunitySafe were very helpful in getting us started with loading our phone numbers and creating our call lists. They promptly answered any questions we had, even on the busy snow days. They provided helpful suggestions for organizing and using our lists. They treat our data and our communications with the same urgency and concern that we do.”

Parents and staff in the Northwest school district love CommunitySafe. So much in fact that those who originally neglected to provide the district with updated phone numbers were very quick to update them once they heard of the informational and emergency calls. Families appreciate the convenience of the weather closing or delay messages on the phone instead of having to wait to hear it on television or radio.

“Working with CommunitySafe has been a real pleasure. Increased communication always pays off. This system has helped us to get our messages out to parents which helps our staff, the parents and our students. The implementation of this system was a big community relations success for us.”

Point Pleasant Beach School district is located in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, a Jersey shore community situated on the Barnegat Peninsula. The district implemented CommunitySafe in April 2008 to enable quick and effective communication in emergency situations.

Prior to CommunitySafe, parent volunteers were tasked with making phone calls to inform parents, faculty and staff of emergency information. This method not only allowed for human error, but was also very time-consuming.

As the 2007-2008 school year came to a close, school officials relied on CommunitySafe after a bomb threat at the district’s high school. Once administrators were made aware of the situation, Superintendent Dr. John Ravally recorded a message for parents and a message for faculty.

Parents and staff received voice messages to their home and cell phone numbers that answered questions and calmed worries about the situation, including procedures that were followed and precautions that were implemented for possible future situations. Had CommunitySafe not be in place, this valuable information would not have been received for several hours or possibly until the next day.

Looking forward to the next school year, school administrators aim to expand their use of CommunitySafe to include half day and final exam reminders as well as extracurricular activity notifications.

Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy Middle School began using the CommunitySafe application in 2006. With nearly 400 students in the middle school facility, administrators were in search of a communication tool that allowed for quick and easy dissemination of information. After comparing the product to competitors, CHCA chose CommunitySafe because of its affordable price and partnership with Cincinnati Bell.

CHCA Middle School has since used CommunitySafe to relay various messages. Primarily a tool to communicate emergency information, its use has expanded to include parent/teacher conference notification and open house reminders. Mr. Hall has also begun sending grade specific messages to parents about upcoming events.

The response from parents, faculty and students has been overwhelming positive. Parents are now more informed than ever about school activities. Students also benefit from the messages which often serve as additional reminders for them. In the future, the MIddle School facility hopes to use CommunitySafe for extracurricular activity notification and individual teacher announcements to their classes.

Reading Hilltop Elementary School used CommunitySafe during its first week of school in August. Due to heat-related power outages, the school was forced to conduct an emergency evacuation and release students early.

With the help of CommunitySafe, Principal Bob Longworth was able to quickly and calmly contact families within a 20-minute time frame. Parents received accurate and timely information from the voice of authority before they heard of the events on the radio or news. All parents picked up their children within two hours of receiving the call.

Mr. Longworth says, “Without the system, I have no doubt that children would have been with our school staff for up to five hours on the front lawn of the school in triple digit temperatures. I truly appreciate the ability to touch base with our families so quickly and easily.”

Other schools in the Reading school district have experienced similar results. The benefits of CommunitySafe are endless because of its ability to disseminate vital information from school administrators to parents and faculty in a timely manner.

“CommunitySafe is a wonderful tool for communicating with families. It is a thorough and effective approach to authentic, real-time communication. Our faculty has embraced this system as well, and look forward to using CommunitySafe on their own.”

Mason City Schools chose CallCommand’s CommunitySafe program because of the simplicity of the application and low price per student. A user since December 2006, Mason City Schools initially intended to use this application for emergency calls and weather notifications. This year, the district began using CommunitySafe for absence notification and gifted testing notification.

Mason City Schools also uses the system to notify private school parents who use Mason’s transportation services of weather delays or closings. Already busy parents appreciate receiving timely and accurate information that further simplifies their lives.

Faculty and staff prefer this system to the previous, outdated “phone tree.” One of the main benefits of CommunitySafe is that everyone in the district receives the same message at the same time from the voice of authority. As messages are relayed through CommunitySafe, school officials are able to assess the number of complete and incomplete calls.

Big Walnut Local Schools, located in Galena, Ohio adopted the CommunitySafe emergency and informational notification system in September 2007. Initially they had hoped to use CommunitySafe for emergency situations, school closings and delays. Recently, however, they’ve found many unanticipated uses of the system.

To open the school year, officials used CommunitySafe to notify high school parents of an upcoming open house. Attendance at the event was much greater than originally expected, and soon, parents began to comment.

“Our parents love this system and the feeling of being connected to what is going on at their children’s school,” says Director of Technology, Wayne Thompson. Thompson continued, “CommunitySafe distinguishes itself from similar products because of its personalized 24-7 customer service, ongoing support and affordable price.”

With 2,900 students in the district, CommunitySafe enables parents and students to receive information in a timely and professional manner from the voice of authority. This school year, CommunitySafe has been used by Big Walnut Schools to inform families of fog delays and other weather-related issues. CommunitySafe has also been used by school administrators to disperse informational health notifications.

Big Walnut Schools plans to increase how and when CommunitySafe is used. In the future, the district hopes to implement CommunitySafe into every sphere of the district including extracurricular activities, absentee notification and maintaining the school’s database.

“The results have been extraordinary thus far, and we continue to be impressed with CommunitySafe and all it can do. It has simplified day-to-day activities and has exceeded our expectations!”