Cy-Fair ISD will launch district-wide mass notification system in 2014

Parents, staff and community members in Cy-Fair ISD will soon have access to a notification system that will alert them to important district news in the case of a district-wide emergency.

The new system will allow the district to send text messages and make phone calls in an effort to communicate timely information. There will also be a free mobile application available for parents and community members.

Additionally, a parent-contact manager area in the system will allow parents to enter in updated phone numbers and email addresses should the district need to contact them quickly.

"This will give us a real time solution to quickly put communication out in massive amounts to a large number of people," said Nicole Ray, CFISD assistant superintendent for communication and community relations. "It's really important to communicate quickly with parents and staff, because if we don't get our story out someone else will."

After interviewing different companies from around the country who provide mass notification services, the district chose School Messenger, which represents 80 of the 200 largest school districts in the country, including Houston ISD and Dallas ISD.

"The No. 1 complaint after there's been an emergency is that people are complaining about a delay in notification," Ray said. "That breeds misinformation, and then you have parents and community members upset and stories floating out there. We need to rely on a company that can provide notifications to a mass number of people. This system will allow us to own the information we put out there so it's true, accurate and timely."

District officials plan to begin training for the new system this spring.

"For a lot of our parents, to be able to have a mobile application is truly a godsend," board president Don Ryan said.