The school district utilizes a rapid notification system. From 2008 to Spring 2013 this system was AlertNow. Starting in Spring 2013, the system is Blackboard Connect. The primary purpose of this system is to quickly notify parents/guardians of emergency situations such as snow days, lockdowns, power outages, etc. It may also be used to send other important announcements and messages such as the schools' Weekly Wednesday Envelope email reminders.

Parents/Guardians are notified via phone and/or email, depending on the situation. Blackboard Connect / AlertNow uses the applicable phone numbers and email addresses stored in PowerSchool, our student information system. Blackboard Connect / AlertNow is another important reason to keep your phone numbers and email addresses up-to-date with us. Phone number changes can be made by calling your child’s school office. Email address changes can be done by parents, by using the Parent Access feature of PowerSchool. Click here for instructions on adding or changing your email address(es). These same instructions are on the PowerSchool login page.

NOTE to Pre-K Speech & Language parents and 4-Year Old Kindergarten parents: Parent Access to PowerSchool is not available for these student grade levels so you will have to notify your child's school office to make any changes.

We’ve configured the system to not call parents after 10:00 p.m. or before 6:00 a.m. which means you may find out about snow days from the TV or radio stations before you receive a Blackboard Connect / AlertNow message. This is OK. These calling times were determined based on the vendor’s experience of best practices and feedback from parents we’ve talked to. Calls to staff may be made outside of this timeframe, depending on the situation. As requested by staff, if there is time to send out a separate, earlier message to staff-only on the morning of a school cancellation or delay, we will so they are notified as early as possible instead of waiting for 6:00 a.m. In this case, staff members who also have children in the district will receive two messages, one before 6:00 a.m. (sent to staff) and another one after 6:00 a.m. (sent to parents).
 

Documentation regarding Blackboard Connect is available by clicking on the links below:

TEST MESSAGE Heads-up to Parents & Staff regarding May 18, 2013 Email & Call from Blackboard Connect system

Letter to Parents - Transition from AlertNow to Blackboard Connect

How Parents Can Update Their Own Email Address(es) Used By BlackboardConnect
 

For more information, please contact Brad Taylor, Information Coordinator, at 920.492.2905 ext.1017 or btaylor@ashwaubenon.k12.wi.us