SafeArrival Outreach Toolkit Sample Letter to Parents

Month Date, Year

Dear Parents/Guardians,

At [insert school district name], one of our most significant priorities is ensuring all our students arrive safely at school daily.

We are introducing a more efficient student absence reporting system called SafeArrival to enhance our absence-checking procedure. This new system will reduce the time it takes to verify student attendance, make it easy for you to report your child’s absence, and make it easy for staff to respond to unexplained student absences.

With SafeArrival, you can report your child’s absence ahead of time at any time of the day, 7 days of the week, 365 days of the year, using any of the following three ways:

1. Using your mobile device, download and install the SchoolMessenger Home app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store (or from the SchoolMessenger US or SchoolMessenger Canada website). The first time you use the app, select Sign Up to create your account, or if you previously used the SchoolMessenger App – log in using those credentials. Select Attendance, then Report an Absence.

2. Use the SafeArrival website (SchoolMessenger US or SchoolMessenger Canada). The first time you use the app, select Sign Up to create your account, or if you previously used the SchoolMessenger Go – log in using those credentials. Select Attendance, then Report an Absence.

3. Call the toll-free number [insert toll-free number] to report an absence using the automated phone system.

In addition, we will use the SchoolMessenger Communicate automated notification system to contact parents whose child is absent when the absence was not reported in advance. The automated notification system will attempt to contact parents at multiple contact points until a reason is submitted for the absence. Office staff will follow up if our system cannot reach the designated contacts.

You will not receive notifications if you report your child’s absence in advance using the SafeArrival toll-free number, website, or mobile app.

Starting [insert day of the week, month, date, year], please report absences in advance using SafeArrival instead of sending notes or calling or emailing the school.

Starting [insert day of the week, month, date, year], staff will use the SafeArrival notifications to let you know if your student is absent when you have not reported the absence in advance.

If you have children attending other schools, please continue to report absences using the existing procedures for those schools.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we implement this new system.