Dear parents,

As you know, PBS regularly holds fire and other emergency drills on campus to make sure that our students and teachers are well prepared to stay safe in unexpected circumstances. This year, we are expanding two of those drills to include notifications to our families, faculty, and staff, to make sure that our emergency notification system works as intended, to enhance information-sharing, and to make sure that parents know what type of communication to expect from the school in the event of an emergency.

To ensure the effectiveness of our new system, it's important for you to take the following two actions:

1. Provide consent to receive text messages ASAP. From the mobile phone number listed in the Community Portal directory, text YES to 67587 to opt in. You can do this right now. On Tuesday, October 3, any mobile phone number registered to a parent, faculty member, or staff member that has not opted in already will receive a message by text asking them to do so.
   
   
2. Be on the lookout for an emergency drill notification on Wednesday, October 11, at 9:30 a.m. You should receive a text message on your mobile phone, a call on any phone numbers you've provided us, and an email at your school email. If you do not receive these notifications, please email help@phillipsbrooks.org so that we can troubleshoot and make sure that you get future messages.

Please note that we will only use this autodialer and group-SMS capability for emergencies and two emergency drills per year. Email will continue to be our primary communication channel, and we will continue to keep messages from the school from becoming too frequent.

Thanks for your help in making sure our emergency procedures are effective in keeping our students safe and our families and colleagues informed. If you have any questions, please be in touch!

Sincerely,

Michael Lavigne Jr., Communications Manager

Bailey Bussell, Health and Student Services Coordinator