The Guilderland Central School District has moved from One Call Now and School News Notifier (or SNN) to SchoolMessenger as a way to contact our parents, students and staff members. SchoolMessenger is used for emergency notifications, such as school closings/delays and emergency situations in schools.
(Click here for SchoolMessenger Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) and a How-To Guide)
How GCSD will use SchoolMessenger
Email, text messages and phone calls are the forms of communication through SchoolMessenger. In the event of a non-school hours emergency and a school-hours emergency*, parents will be notified via phone call, email, and through text message.
(*Examples of a non-school hour emergency include school closings or delays, water main breaks, etc. These notifications will be sent outside the regular school hour. A school-hour emergency includes an early release or an emergency situation during regular school hours.)
Information on how to modify notification preferences (example, via text message and email only) will be shared following the opt-in campaign.
Opt-in campaign
On Thursday, Dec. 6 at 6 p.m., parents/guardians will receive a text message invitation to receive SMS text messages from the district through the new School Messenger system. This confirmation is required prior to families receiving text messages from our schools. The message will look like this:
Guilderland Central School District messages. Reply Y to confirm, HELP 4 info. Msg&data rates may apply. Msg freq varies. schoolmessenger.com/tm
If you would like to receive text messages, please reply “Y” when you receive this message.
Please note: Following the release of the text message, SchoolMessenger will be live and will be the primary method of communication for school hour and non-school hour emergencies. Messages will be sent via this system for weather closings and delays.
Text messages from our schools will be sent from School Messenger’s “short code” of 67587. Short codes are the industry standard, and the fastest, most reliable way to deliver mass text notifications.