SchoolReach program enters into partnership with Vermillion School District

GroupCast Messaging systems, a leader in the emerging automated call notification industry, has partnered with Vermillion School District to implement GroupCast's SchoolReach System. The SchoolReach system, already in use in many school districts nationwide, was designed to provide a recorded message from a school official to parents for emergency purposes or for a general announcement.

SchoolReach allows a school official, such as the principal, to record a brief message, which will be sent to a list of parents simultaneously. Greeted by the friendly voice of a familiar school personality, parents know right away that the message is important. Once the message is recorded, it only takes a few minutes to distribute to parents.

The system then generates a report that tells officials which parents answered, when an answering machine picked up and whether those who answered listened to the whole message. Replacing older forms of communication, such as phone trees and sending notes home with students, the system allows for effective and timely dispensing of important information.

"SchoolReach allows a school administrator to more effectively and efficiently contact parents with important announcements," said Paul Langhorst, GroupCast vice president of operations. "Schools struggle with day-of or night-before notices to parents; SchoolReach serves this need perfectly and requires no hardware, software or phone lines for use. We are very pleased that Vermillion School District recognized the need for such a communication tool and has selected GroupCast as its partner."

In schools already using the SchoolReach system, officials have found that it is an ideal way to provide parents with important information, such as school closings or registration reminders. It also works well in emergency situations or for rumor abatement. This system allows officials to send out messages to the entire student body or a select group affected by the announcement, such as a class or sports team. It also allows officials to call parents at work, home, or even on their cell phones if they prefer.

About GroupCast and SchoolReach

GroupCast is a St. Louis-based organization that provides innovative solutions for automated communications, including voice broadcasting, text and fax messaging. SchoolReach, a division of GroupCast, is an automated phone broadcast system that allows a centrally recorded message to be delivered simultaneously to tens, hundreds or thousands of phone numbers within minutes. SchoolReach is used by thousands of schools across the country to notify parents about cancellations and emergency announcements and to abate rumors and make general reminders. More information about GroupCast or SchoolReach can be found at www.groupcast.com and www.schoolreach.com.