When you are a staff member of an elementary, middle, or high school, communication is key. You must effectively communicate with your student body as well as the parents and other faculty members. On occasion, you might need to distribute vital information at a moment's notice. A bulk SMS service can help you to effectively communicate with students, parents, and other faculty. After all, 81 percent of Americans say that they keep their phones on 24 hours out of the day. Combine this close proximity to digital devices with the 98 percent of text messages that are read by recipients, and suddenly bulk SMS messages become one of the most reliable methods for communicating information quickly and effectively.
Moving Beyond Traditional Communication Methods In The School System
When a child enters kindergarten, he is taught about the importance of delivering important pieces of mail home to his parents. However, all too often the important piece of mail is forgotten, lost, or damaged by a punctured juice box. When the child moves onto middle school, teachers begin to communicate with parents via email, phone calls, and the occasional note home. By the time the child has entered into high school, teachers assume that parents will respond to an urgent email, and, as a result, tend to leave off other forms of communication. As time has passed and we have entered into a digital world, these traditional forms of communication are no longer effective for the following reasons:
- Information sent via the post or home with students can be delayed, received too late, or never delivered (especially in the cases when the student knows that the envelope contains bad news).
- Phone calls are unreliable when the parents are too busy working or forget to return a missed call to an unknown number.
- Emails can be read too late or blocked by stringent spam filters.
Unlike the traditional communication methods, a bulk SMS service is the optimal communication tool to quickly message students, parents, or both. Messages are delivered quickly, contain a "delivery" or "read" receipt, are reliable, and won't be delayed by the student's slight of hand.
5 Ways To Use A Bulk SMS Service To Alert Elementary and Middle School Parents
1. Easily send reminders about upcoming school assemblies, plays, or parent-teacher evenings. Each message can be tailored to a particular class or grade.
2. Send vital information at a moment's notice about school closures, sports cancelations, or the postponement of school events.
3. Easily notify parents about changes to the school's contact information or website. These types of messages are especially important when parents want to enroll their children in extra-curricular activities.
4. Create an easy-to-respond and easy-to-track voting system to elect parent officials.
5. Send notifications regarding newsletters, upcoming field trips, seminars, and report cards.
5 Unique Ways To Use A Bulk SMS Service To Alert High School Students
1. Alert students to AP exam timetables, term dates, SAT and ACT dates, and other important information.
2. Encourage students to make appointments with their guidance counselors or tutors.
3. Easily provide links to access grades, extra-curricular activities, and sport team sing-ups.
4. Provide information about study abroad programs, field trips, class dances, and other social activities.
5. Alert students to outstanding college entry forms, fees, or absenteeism.
Bulk SMS services are helping elementary, middle, and high school educational institutions more quickly reach faculty members, parents, and students. From alerting these individuals about a school-related emergency, to reminding parents to attend the spring concert, SMS messages are an easy and effective way to simultaneously communicate with multiple groups of people. Higher open-rates, more efficient delivery systems, and improved response time are contributing factors to the rise of bulk SMS messages within the school system. Discover how a bulk SMS service can benefit your school today.
