Communications system keeps Bronx school in business

Keeping families informed in an increasingly uncertain world is a top priority for administrators at Alfred E. Smith High School in the Bronx. So when unwanted news about the school's pending closure arrived, parents and community members were quickly informed. The technical high school remains open today.

"We cite our community support and success in large part to our use of K12 Alerts®. We're able to send thousands of voice messages to parents in minutes," said Rafael Guzman, Assistant Principal.

K12 Alerts® was established in 2001 after 9/11 to find a better way to communicate with large groups of people during a crisis.  The K12 Alerts platform is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution created to enable school administrators to record, send, and track targeted messages to groups in minutes. K12 Alerts has a proprietary Parent My Account® portal that is customized for each school where parents and staff members can maintain/update their emergency phone numbers, email and Text-to-Cell messaging numbers for emergency and routine messaging.

The school in the Bronx was one of seven that the Department of Education had marked for closure this year. But instead of being closed, Alfred E. Smith represents the first time the NYC Department of Education has removed a school from the chopping block without other intervention. The DOE held a public hearing on the school closing. The school has 1,100 students attending its vocational programs and is a vital educational component in the South Bronx.