October 31, 2023
Dear Blue Ace Families,
It seems fitting that during Ohio’s School Safety Month, we are introducing a new, more efficient student absence reporting system called SafeArrival. As you’ll recall from my preview message, this new system will reduce the time it takes to verify student attendance, as well as make it easy for you to report your child’s absence and for staff to respond to unexplained student absences.
With SafeArrival, you are asked to report your child’s absence in advance 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 (or from the links at https://go.schoolmessenger.com). The first time you use the app, select Sign Up to create your account. Select Attendance then Report an Absence.
- Use the SafeArrival website, https://go.schoolmessenger.com. The first time you use the website, select Sign Up to create your account. Select Attendance then Report an Absence.
- Call the toll-free number 866-294-5982 to report an absence using the automated phone system.
These options are available 24 hours/day, 7 days a week. Future absences can be reported at any time. In addition, we will use the SchoolMessenger Communicate automated notification system to contact parents whose child is absent when the absence was not reported in advance. The automated notification system will attempt to contact parents at multiple contact points until a reason is submitted for the absence.
If our system is unable to reach the designated contacts, office staff will follow up.
If you report your child’s absence in advance using the SafeArrival toll-free number, website, or mobile app, you will NOT receive these notifications.
Starting Wednesday, November 1, please report absences in advance using SafeArrival instead of sending notes or calling/emailing the school.
Starting Wednesday, November 1, staff will be using the SafeArrival notifications to let you know if your student is absent (when you haven’t reported the absence in advance).
If you have children attending other schools, please continue to report absences using the existing procedures for those schools.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we implement this new system.
Your partner in education,
Jeff Brown
Superintendent, Granville Schools