Dear Parents/Guardians,
At East Penn School District, one of our greatest priorities is ensuring that all our students arrive safely at school each and every day.
To enhance our existing absence-checking procedure, we are introducing a new, more efficient student absence reporting system called SafeArrival. This new system reduces the time it takes to verify student attendance, makes it easier for you to report your child’s absence and is more efficient for staff to respond to unexplained student absences.
With SafeArrival, you can report your child out the day of a sick absence. Plus, if you know your child will be out of school ahead of time, you can preschedule the absence using any of these three convenient methods:
- Using your mobile device, download and install the SchoolMessenger app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. You can also download the app directly from the SchoolMessenger site here. The first time you use the app, select Sign Up to create your account using an email address we have on file for you. Select Attendance then Report an Absence.
- Login to PowerSchool. Select School Messenger, then Attendance, and select Report an Absence. Please read the directions on Activating and Reporting an Absence in SchoolMessenger Account found here.
- Call the toll-free number (833) 306-2461 to report an absence using the automated phone system.
These options are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Future absences can be reported at any time. Day of absences, for instance for illness, should be reported as early in the morning as possible the day of the absence. You can of course still call or email your student’s school to report an absence.
We will use the SchoolMessenger Communicate automated notification system to contact parents/guardians whose child is absent when the absence was not reported. The automated notification system will attempt to contact parents/guardians at multiple contact points (ex: phone, email, text) until a reason is submitted for the absence. Please refer to the SafeArrival Quick Tips.
If you report your child’s absence either the morning of the absence or in advance of a known absence using the SafeArrival toll-free number, website or mobile app, you will NOT receive these notifications that your child has been marked absent.
Starting Monday, August 28, 2023, you can now also report absences, the day of and in advance of known absences, using SafeArrival instead of sending notes or calling/emailing the school. The attendance secretary at your student’s school will use SafeArrival notifications to let you know if your student is absent (when you haven’t reported the absence in advance).
SafeArrival is just one more tool to make reporting your student’s absence more efficient and timely. You can still call the school or email the attendance staff directly, but utilizing the SafeArrival system speeds up the attendance process so we can more quickly confirm the location of your student.
Detailed information on SafeArrival is available on our District website.
If you have any questions about SafeArrival, please contact your school’s office.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we implement this new system.