FACTS Parent Alerts

Parent Alerts

FACTS Parent Alert settings are a little confusing. The service allows us to send two types of messages: EMERGENCY ALERTS and Non-emergency Alerts. What is the difference?

• An Emergency Alert is limited to a critical message about unscheduled change to school procedures, such as closures, delayed start times, or changes in dismissal times, location, or procedure (in the event of an evacuation).

• A Non-emergency Alert is a “reminder” about scheduled events, such as a previously planned early dismissal day, the weekly release of the Viking Voice, or sign-ups for parent teacher conferences.

Each parent can set their own preferences for Non-Emergency Alerts. The preferences are viewed and set in the Family Portal. (See Tutorial below).

Parent Alert messages that are designated by the school as “Emergency Alerts” override the stated preferences of a parent however in order to better protect our students and improve our ability to respond to an emergency.  

The layout of the preferences panel is set by FACTS, not the school. It is a little confusion (especially item #4 about text messages) so I thought it would be helpful to test various options and then provide some guidance. I can confirm the following set of preferences allowed me to receive a non-emergency text alert and a phone alert: