June 14, 2022
Emergency Alert System Test on Friday
Dear WWCS Families,
Happy summer to all of you! We wanted to send out a quick note to let you know we will be testing our emergency alert system on Friday, June 17, at 11:00 AM. Families will receive a phone call, email, or text message stating: This a test of the Walla Walla Catholic Schools emergency alert system. No further action is required at this time.
If you do not receive an emergency alert on that day, please let us know so that we can correct any errors.
Introducing ParentSquare
In previous years, these emergency alerts would come through our One Call Now software. However, for this test we are trying out a new communications platform called ParentSquare. ParentSquare is a tool that integrates with Skyward and syncs contact information from Skyward. We are still in the testing phase of this program, but we are hoping that utilizing this software will assist us in the following ways:
- ParentSquare pulls contact info from Skyward, so we know that when we send out a message, it is always going to the correct people with up-to-date numbers and addresses.
- Parent Square has the ability to call, email, or text families, so we can be sure to connect with people in whatever format they prefer.
- ParentSquare performs automatic translation into Spanish and other languages for us. So, any communications from the schools to parents can be translated, and any replies from parents to the school can be translated back into English.
This third point regarding translation is perhaps the most important feature for us, and something that we are very excited to offer to our families. The necessity of having translation performed for school closures and emergency alerts is obvious, but we believe it will also prove useful for more regular communication as well.
Please stay tuned for more information to come about ParentSquare in the future. For now, we thank you for your participation in this test on Friday. Have a wonderful summer!