The Revere Local School District recently upgraded to a new program that helps Revere administrators keep parents and students aware of upcoming events and changes in the district.

The Revere school district uses the new program, Blackboard Connect, to help parents and students stay informed of any changes or upcoming events. Blackboard Connect is a mass notification program that is used to contact large groups of people through either email or text message. Revere upgraded from the older AlertNow notification system when it was bought out by Blackboard Connect. After signing up, parents can receive messages from administration instantly on their phones or through their computers.

Dan Fry, Principal of Bath Elementary School, noted how he uses the new program.

“I have been using Blackboard Connect to send our monthly Bath Bulletin newsletter, as well as information about upcoming parent events and meetings,” Fry said.

According to Dave Tomei, the transportation supervisor for the Revere School District, the transportation department also uses Blackboard Connect to notify parents of any route or schedule changes along bus routes.

“I use it to let parents and bus drivers know about any schedule or route change,” Tomei said. Tomei also reaised a new feature of Blackboard Connect called specialized lists.

“I can now drill down the list [of parents] and bother three people instead of 300 about any route changes,” Tomei said.

Randy Boroff, District Superintendent, explained how Revere acquired Blackboard Connect.

“The AlertNow system that we used for rapid communication in the past was bought out by Blackboard Connect last spring. This service is purchased at a discounted rate through the Ohio Schools council purchasing consortium. The cost is based on the number of students and staff in the district,” Boroff said.

Blackboard Connect has not only improved communication between parents and the district, but Boroff explained that it is also very fast.

“The program can make nearly 6,000 calls in just a few minutes. We can remind parents of special programs at individual schools and inform parents if a bus is running late. We [also] use the program to make attendance calls or inform parents of a school cancellation in a matter of minutes.” Boroff said.

Generally, district administrators are pleased with the new service, and feel that it is certainly helping to improve communication between the district and local parents.