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District rolls out ParentSquare urgent-alert system; board presses for clearer processes after mistaken post
Summary
Julie Fobarek described ParentSquare's urgent- and smart-alert capabilities, including multi-channel delivery, auto-translation and FERPA protections. Board members asked for defined sender authority, backups and scenario-based training after a recent Orange Grove posting error.
Julie Fobarek, the district's director of community relations, told the Catalina Foothills Unified School District governing board on Oct. 1 that the district's new communications platform, ParentSquare, can send urgent alerts simultaneously by text, email and automated voice and that recipients cannot opt out of those urgent alerts.
The presentation explained the difference between —urgent— alerts, which —override individual notification preferences— and go to an entire school or the whole district, and —smart— alerts, which can be targeted and for which users may opt out. Fobarek demonstrated templates, a delivery dashboard that shows who received and opened alerts, and the platform's automatic language-translation and 300-character alert text capability.
Why it matters: the board emphasized that emergency messaging must reach parents quickly and reliably but also be governed by clear protocols so staff do not send messages incorrectly. Several members cited the recent Orange Grove incident, where the district posted according to user preferences rather than sending an urgent alert, leaving some families uninformed.
Fobarek said urgent alerts will be sent by principals, the communications director, the superintendent (Dr. Bartlett), and designated backups depending on the incident, and that the district is building a flowchart and scenario-based training for the administrative team. She also confirmed ParentSquare pulls contact data from the district's Synergy database, that parents who never logged in still receive alerts that override daily digests, and that guest accounts (for grandparents or caregivers) can be added to community groups and included as recipients when needed.
Board members asked for several operational clarifications, including whether voice calls leave a voicemail if unanswered (yes, with the same text read aloud), whether an urgent alert can be limited to staff or parents only (senders can choose staff/parents/students/guests within a school-level urgent alert), and whether there are backups if the primary sender is unavailable (Fobarek said yes). Members urged including an outbound-only disclaimer in voice messages (e.g., "do not call this number back") to limit inbound call volume during incidents.
Fobarek said the district will continue refining templates and training principals and staff so alerts can be composed and sent quickly; she recommended an admin-team workshop in two weeks for scenario exercises. She also stressed ParentSquare's security posture, saying it complies with FERPA and other data-protection standards.
The board did not take formal action on the presentation. Fobarek and the administrative team left with an assignment to return with refined processes and training plans for distributing urgent and smart alerts.
