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What is AlertNow?
The AlertNow system is a rapid and efficient solution for contacting parents and guardians of students instantly, for everyday needs and in emergency situations. AlertNow is the only notification service that utilizes a nationally distributed network of data centers and emergency call centers to ensure your calls will go out under any circumstances. The online application sends daily notifications, all initialized with just one call, to parents and staff about school events, student attendance and emergencies.
Who uses AlertNow? What do they use it for?
Schools in 49 states throughout the country are taking action by using AlertNow to improve communications with parents. More and more schools are relying on AlertNow to deliver important information to parents to meet the demands of No Child Left Behind (NCLB): increase the involvement of the community in their children's education, report absences and communicate with parents about emergency situations.
How long does it take to get a call out?
For daily and routine notifications to parents, access to the secure Web application is a brief five-step process. Voice messages can be delivered instantly or scheduled for delivery at a later time. In an emergency situation, calls are delivered within minutes. The message will be immediately delivered to a group of phone numbers at a rate of up to 6,000 calls per minute. This approach maximizes the administrator’s time, while adding another powerful resource to the school’s incident management team and other staff involved in handling emergencies.
Why is there a delay when receiving some of the AlertNow emails to my Verizon email address?
UPDATED 5/12/10:
As a result of Alert Now's final testing, completed May 7th, Alert Now states they are confident that the issues related to Verizon addresses are comprehensively resolved.
AlertNow uses an internet email feature called CHUNKING to handle the transmission of large and binary MIME messages. CHUNKING provides a mechanism to convert the message to its simplest form and send the message a single chunk at a time.
AlertNow disabled email CHUNKING to Verizon.net recipients on April 15. In addition, they identified and removed the undeliverable flag from all affected Verizon.net email addresses in AlertNow’s distribution on May 6. AlertNow will continue to monitor email broadcasts and strive for improvements in deliverability.
2/1/2010: AlertNow is working with Verizon to remedy the delay in emails. The source of the problem is that Verizon is delaying the emails on their email server. AlertNow's response is the following:
AlertNow is aware of this issue and is actively working with Verizon to resolve the problem. So far we (AlertNow) have been able to confirm that:
1) There is no delay in delivery of the emails from AlertNow's email server to the Verizon network.
2) Verizon has confirmed that they are not blocking the emails/ IP address.
3) Verizon is investigating the root cause of this issue.
Parents will receive two different types of messages from schools:
Emergency notifications are used during critical incidents where a child, staff member or parent’s safety is in immediate jeopardy; these calls include lockdowns, evacuations and relocations. Emergency messages display “411” on caller ID so parents recognize the urgency of the call. Another example would be the early dismissal inclement weather calls where CCPS calls all phone numbers listed for contacts one and two from the emergency cards.
Routine notifications do not directly affect the safety of students, staff or parents; these calls include upcoming events, delayed school bus routes and absenteeism. These messages display 410-751.3000 on caller ID. An example would also be the early morning inclement weather calls usually delivered around 6-6:30 a.m.
How do I opt-out?
Parents may choose not to receive phone alerts and/or e-mails. These opt-outs should be managed by the individual school. Parents may choose to remove an individual telephone number, such as a home, work, or cell phone number, or an e-mail address.
Please Note: Parents should be made aware that if they opt out a phone number or e-mail address for one type of notification – such as requesting that a home phone number not receive calls for closings due to inclement weather – they will no longer be able to receive any notifications (such as attendance calls) at that phone number or e-mail address.
How do I replay or review previous messages
If you have missed a phone call or would like to view a previous email within 15 days of the message being sent, you can do so by clicking on the image below:
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