SafeArrival Sample Letter to Parents

Month Date, Year

Dear Parents/Guardians,

At [insert school district name here], one of our greatest priorities is ensuring that all our students arrive safely at school each and every day.

To enhance our existing absence-checking procedure, we are introducing a new, more efficient student absence reporting system called SafeArrival. 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 easy for staff to respond to unexplained student absences.

With SafeArrival, you are asked to report your child’s absence in advance using any of these 3 convenient methods:

Using your mobile device, download and install the SchoolMessenger app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store (or from the links at home.schoolmessenger.com (UNITED STATES) or home.schoolmessenger.ca (CANADA)). The first time you use the app, select Sign Up to create your account. Select Attendance then Report an Absence.
Use the SafeArrival website, home.schoolmessenger.com (UNITED STATES) or home.schoolmessenger.ca (CANADA). The first time you use the website, select Sign Up to create your account. Select Attendance then Report an Absence.
Call the toll-free number [insert toll-free number here] to report an absence using the automated phone system.

These options are available 24 hours/day, 7 days a week. Future absences can be reported at any time.

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. If our system is unable to reach the designated contacts, office staff will follow up.

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

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

Starting [insert day of the week, month, date, year here], staff will being using the SafeArrival notifications to let you know if your student is absent (when you haven’t 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.