Dear Families,

We are happy to announce that you will soon be receiving automated telephone calls regarding unexcused absences and tardies.  Our school is participating in a pilot of this program by the Seattle School District beginning on May 6th.

Beginning May 6th, if your student receives an unexcused absence or tardy you will receive an automated phone call about the absence or the tardy that evening.  Calls will begin at 6:00 PM each weeknight in order to ensure that the highest number of families are at home when calls are made by the system.

 To provide the most specific information possible to families, the District is implementing separate unexcused absence and unexcused tardy calls.  This will allow calls to include information about the specific period your student received an unexcused absence or tardy.  This means that if your student has an excused absence and an unexcused tardy on the same day, you will receive two separate SchoolMessenger calls. 

 Calls will be made to the primary phone number currently on file with the School District.  Families that have provided the District with an email address will receive an email containing unexcused attendance and tardy information.  Initially, all attendance and tardy calls will be made in English but translated calls will be available to families in home languages beginning later this month.

Currently, many the secondary schools across the District have their own desktop version of SchoolMessenger for making attendance calls. Moving forward, these calls will happen centrally and these schools will no longer have the added resource commitment of purchasing their individual SchoolMessenger licenses.

If you have questions or feedback about the pilot or calls that you receive, please contact the attendance office at (206) 252-5014 or email Carol Bristol chbristol@seattleschools.org.