SHOW TOPIC
An Inside Look: How SV Handles Inclement Weather
SPECIAL GUEST
Ms. Linda Andreassi, Seneca Valley Communications Director
Linda Andreassi has been working at Seneca Valley for over 24 years. A graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism, Ms. Andreassi has previous experience in the newspaper industry where she was a reporter and editor. She has over 60 awards for excellence in public relations programs and publications from such organizations as Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), Pennsylvania School Public Relations Association (PenSPRA) and National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA).
Ms. Andreassi is responsible for all District written and electronic publications, as well as communications through the mass parent notification system. She also manages content for the District website, social media sites and mobile app, and serves as the press spokesperson for Seneca Valley. Additional responsibilities include press release submissions, working with community organizations, marketing and promotion of the District and managing advertising for the website, e-newsletter and calendar.
IN THIS EPISODE, WE WILL REVIEW
USEFUL INFORMATION
www.svsd.net
https://www.svsd.net/weathernotice
https://portal.svsd.net/
SHOW TOPIC
An Inside Look: How SV Handles Inclement Weather
SPECIAL GUEST
Ms. Linda Andreassi, Seneca Valley Communications Director
Linda Andreassi has been working at Seneca Valley for over 24 years. A graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism, Ms. Andreassi has previous experience in the newspaper industry where she was a reporter and editor. She has over 60 awards for excellence in public relations programs and publications from such organizations as Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), Pennsylvania School Public Relations Association (PenSPRA) and National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA).
Ms. Andreassi is responsible for all District written and electronic publications, as well as communications through the mass parent notification system. She also manages content for the District website, social media sites and mobile app, and serves as the press spokesperson for Seneca Valley. Additional responsibilities include press release submissions, working with community organizations, marketing and promotion of the District and managing advertising for the website, e-newsletter and calendar.
IN THIS EPISODE, WE WILL REVIEW
USEFUL INFORMATION
www.svsd.net
https://www.svsd.net/weathernotice
https://portal.svsd.net/
FULL TRANSCRIPT (with timecode)
File Name: Voices E25 Linda Andreassi.mp3
File Length: 00:14:47
00:00:02:22 - 00:00:07:24
Introduction: Welcome to Voices, a Podcast brought to you by the Seneca Valley School District.
00:00:10:19 - 00:00:19:16
Jeff Krakoff: Welcome to Voices, I'm Jeff Krakoff. Today I am with Linda Andreassi, the communications director at Seneca Valley School District. Linda, thanks for joining us.
00:00:20:04 - 00:00:21:20
Linda Andreassi: Thank you, Jeff. It's great to be here.
00:00:21:27 - 00:00:34:18
Jeff Krakoff: So this is the time of year we wake up in the morning and we're not sure; it could be lots of snow on the ground, it could be frigid temperatures, t here could be a water main break, there could be a power outage.
00:00:34:28 - 00:00:45:22
Jeff Krakoff: All kinds of things are possible. Can you walk us through the process? How do you let students, teachers, the community know what's going on with school? What's going on with transportation?
00:00:46:12 - 00:01:33:20
Linda Andreassi: Sure. So a lot of the times most of the time we're providing that notification in the morning. But sometimes that notification may come in, in the evening if possible. We, if it's a weather event that begins in the evening and we know it's stretching throughout the next day our notification process could begin earlier. But once a decision is made by our superintendent of schools, she immediately notifies me. And then that begins an entire communication process that not only involves several communication mediums, but several members of our communications team so that we can provide information necessary to media and to utilize our other sources, like our TV station, our recording line here at the school, the website certainly.
00:01:34:00 - 00:02:08:15
Linda Andreassi: So once that call is made to me, I then begin the process of initiating SchoolMessenger, first. Now SchoolMessenger, for our parents I think they well know now, is our mass notification system. So I take a template script, if you will, and then I customize it for that particular day and make that recording and then push that out to all members of our Seneca Valley family first to staff, because staff certainly they report to our buildings first.
00:02:08:24 - 00:02:42:04
Linda Andreassi: And then I follow up with an immediate notice right afterward that goes out to all families in the district. And as part of that, they also receive what we call a default email. So they get a notification that says you've received a recent voicemail or message because you have a child in the district. And then you can you can even listen to that through your email account. And we also send a text through SchoolMessenger. So it's actually a really nice utilization of these three pieces with one recording or one visit to SchoolMessenger, if you will.
00:02:42:06 - 00:03:00:16
Linda Andreassi: So we send all of that out. And then my team, while I'm doing that, is simultaneously putting it on several local media and several other communication methods here in the district. To be very specific for our Pittsburgh stations here
00:03:02:07 - 00:03:41:01
Linda Andreassi: WTAE, WPXI and KDKA, you will find these notices there in those scrolling banners that go across the bottom of the TV station. But we also give it to KDKA radio, radio 1020 AM broadcasts that information there. We also provide it to some other county radio stations that are familiar to many of our residents, WISR, which is 680 AM, WBUT, which is 1050 AM and then the Rock, which is 97.7 FM, that is a Butler radio station or Butler Radio Network station that they utilize.
00:03:41:03 - 00:03:55:15
Linda Andreassi: They all broadcast there and we do provide it to them. We also utilize the Seneca Valley School District app. So if you don't have the app downloaded to your mobile device, I really encourage it. It's a great place actually to go for many things.
00:03:56:04 - 00:04:30:06
Linda Andreassi: But for this particular subject, what we do is we push out a notification using the mobile app so that it comes to your home screen just as a text would, and you can receive that. What's nice is the app is easily accessible on your app store, on the mobile device, but it's free. It's a free download. So that's easily accessible to anyone really in our school district or beyond. We also utilize the Seneca Valley School District phone system. So when you call into the phone system to reach members of our staff, you receive a greeting call.
00:04:30:13 - 00:05:08:14
Linda Andreassi: That greeting is changed on delays and closure days to give you that message so that you get that immediately. So we utilize that as well. And then finally, probably one of the places that many of our parents go is our website. So we have the ability to put a pop-up message, what we call pop-up message rate on the home page, and it gives you all of the additional details and information that might be specific to that particular day. And I will tell our parents when I'm recording that information, when we're typing it up and putting it out, there we are we are customizing it for the weather event that we're experiencing.
00:05:08:16 - 00:05:39:25
Linda Andreassi: So if it is say a snow day that looks like it will extend further into the day, or maybe it's one of those famous blizzards that we Pittsburghers have experienced, we can say we are continuing to monitor the weather and will notify you of status updates. So if we've called you with a two hour delay and I'm telling you that, that means stay close to your phone, don't double check the website before you leave your house, because that delay may turn into a closure if the weather continues as is.
00:05:39:27 - 00:05:48:22
Linda Andreassi: So that's why we tell people that. But that gives you, I guess, kind of a brief idea of the behind the scenes efforts that we make.
00:05:48:27 - 00:06:07:20
Jeff Krakoff: Well, it's a lot. You've got broadcast media, you've got your website, you've got mass notification, telephone, text, email. It's hard to miss. So let me ask you a question. How long does it take to implement, let's say, for argument's sake, 5:30 in the morning, something happens, it's going to force a disruption.
00:06:07:22 - 00:06:09:27
Jeff Krakoff: How long does it take you to do all of that?
00:06:10:18 - 00:06:46:18
Linda Andreassi: I would say that we we kind of prioritize when it's that quick of a turnaround. And SchoolMessenger is always the first one out. I would say that usually happens within 10 to 15 minutes of of the notification coming to to me personally. But it would probably take another 20 minutes for us to make sure what we're getting into the media accounts, there are specific usernames and passwords for each different station, for each different group that we're uploading this information to. So that takes time. So I would say from start to finish all notifications, probably a solid 30 minutes of notification.
00:06:46:27 - 00:07:28:18
Linda Andreassi: We then turn around, we pivot pretty quickly, jump back into all of these agencies. I jump back into SchoolMessenger to make sure it is, in fact going out as it's intended. So am I seeing people answering their phone, I can actually see on the back end of SchoolMessenger, it'll say answered. It will actually tell me if you've answered your phone. So if I see that the call is being answered, then I know that there's no technical glitch or technical difficulties, if you will, that would prevent parents from knowing what's happening. And if there is, OK, what do we need to do to make sure that we're getting the message out? Do I need to send a second one? Do I need to send some sort of follow up? Do I need a second text or something like that allows us to kind of monitor as we go.
00:07:28:28 - 00:07:57:29
Linda Andreassi: I have taken up to an hour, an hour and a half on days where there are technical glitches to make sure that our public has been duly informed of what's taking place. So it's yeah, it's a lot of work in the background, but I think that the system overall has been a very effective one in reaching people in different ways. That's unique for them. Everybody has a different way of receiving their information today. So that's what's nice. It's almost very much customizable for families.
00:07:58:09 - 00:08:18:09
Jeff Krakoff: So the technology is great for mass notification, right? It's it's way better than it was decades ago. But like any technology, it's so dependent on having the right data and information. How important is it that the parents and families keep their information updated in the SV Portal?
00:08:19:01 - 00:08:50:13
Linda Andreassi: It's it's vital. It's probably the most important piece to all of this. So what happens is the SV Portal is where parents go to upload all of their information. Emergency contact information is where they want to go to put in the specific details that we need to reach them. Once they put that into the portal, it nightly speaks to SchoolMessenger and updates SchoolMessenger of that with that data, so that when I'm putting in these messages, it's pulling real time data.
00:08:50:22 - 00:09:25:06
Linda Andreassi: So if you move, I'll I'll get calls here and they'll say, I didn't get the message. We'll go in and check the system. I'll say, is this your phone number? They'll say, oh, I got a new phone or we've moved or so it's really important. And I know a lot of times when with those things change in our lives, we don't necessarily think of this. But it's really important to update that information in our system so that we're making sure we're getting that important message to you. It's also true in a very important part of how you would like, again, how you would like to receive your information. Some parents will say to me, goodness, I got a call, I got a text and I got an email.
00:09:25:08 - 00:10:05:14
Linda Andreassi: I don't need all of that. You can go into the system and you can remove the text. You can remove your email information for mass notifications. I will say, though, I tell parents all the time I'd rather them delete the email or maybe just move on from the text, but not necessarily remove themselves from the list, because down the road there might be a time where they wish they had had it that way. So I just tell them you can customize it, but I caution them about doing that. I also tell parents that when they get that mass notification email from us not to necessarily unsubscribe, once they do that, then they will receive no further communications in an email format from us.
00:10:05:16 - 00:10:19:22
Linda Andreassi: I think they think they're unsubscribing from just n otifications in this one instance, but they are, in fact, removing themselves for for any message in the future. So those are just some tips I would suggest parents keep us up to date on.
00:10:19:24 - 00:10:21:04
Jeff Krakoff: Good insight.
00:10:21:10 - 00:10:37:06
Jeff Krakoff: So obviously you have a change, you switch jobs, get a new cell phone, move to a new house and probably not a bad practice just the least once a year. Right. Get in there and make sure. Oh, wait a second, I forgot I changed my phone number or something like that.
00:10:37:13 - 00:11:01:01
Linda Andreassi: Now, I will tell you, we do prompt our parents at the beginning of the school year to go in and update that information. But we know that those changes occur throughout the year, even after those initial changes are put in. So it's, again, just sort of something that we would like to utilize this time to remind parents to do since we are about mid-year, we're about to end our second nine weeks and our first semester.
00:11:01:03 - 00:11:09:18
Linda Andreassi: So just a reminder, maybe to go in and double-check to make sure, especially with maybe winter weather around the corner to make sure their information is updated.
00:11:10:01 - 00:11:11:00
Jeff Krakoff: OK, great.
00:11:11:02 - 00:11:35:12
Jeff Krakoff: So if you're a parent of a student in the district, you can, depending on your selections, report all you really shouldn't be missing anything , because some people may know or not know that the district also provides transportation for students to go to private and parochial schools. Where can those parents go? Can they be part of the portal or do they have to go somewhere else?
00:11:35:21 - 00:12:18:06
Linda Andreassi: Sure. So I don't think, Jeff, a lot of parents know that we have 7,400 students in the Seneca Valley School District, but we actually provide transportation for nearly 9,000 students in the district. And that's because many of our residents have made the choice to to attend a private or parochial school. And we provide that as a public school district. We provide that transportation for them. So a lot of times they'll call and say, can I get the same notification that that the students at Seneca Valley get? And unfortunately, as I explained earlier, because our database here at Seneca Valley feeds into SchoolMessager, that's just not simply something we can do, but there are alternatives for parents who maybe are looking for that notification.
00:12:18:13 - 00:12:48:25
Linda Andreassi: Certainly, again, you could sign up for the mobile app with that free download. Those notifications again, come to your home page as a text message would. So you would receive that notification. But I know many of our local stations, I believe all four; KDKA, WTAE and WPXI have the ability, ability for you to sign up for weather alerts so that when I upload Seneca Valley to their system for notification, you then get a ping or an email or a text that says Seneca Valley School District has just put a two hour delay up.
00:12:48:27 - 00:13:22:19
Linda Andreassi: That would be another way in which you could be notified. So we also invite parents to view our SVTV station. We do run it there. And SVTV runs on Armstrong cable 208, channel 208. And then Consolidated Communications customers can see it on Channel 407. So anybody can flip on their TV and check that out or come to our website at svsd.net, where we also carry the message. So I think that's probably, again, a lot of options for parents that maybe not attend Seneca Valley can still see it.
00:13:23:10 - 00:13:25:09
Jeff Krakoff: All right. Well, lots of good information.
00:13:25:11 - 00:13:37:00
Jeff Krakoff: Is there anything else you'd like to say to parents about the whole issue of staying informed of any changes going on with delays, closings or transportation issues?
00:13:37:18 - 00:14:07:21
Linda Andreassi: I always tell parents that we feel confident in our process and the ability to reach them in the mornings. But I, I would suggest to them if they're leaving their home in the morning or they're about to head out to the bus stop and they notice that snow is taking place so that there is some inclement weather situation taking place to just double-check the website maybe before they go, just in case there has been a technical error or maybe a missed call or email or misses text.
00:14:07:23 - 00:14:33:00
Linda Andreassi: Right? They they maybe will feel more comfortable waiting at a bus stop knowing that, heck you could sit at the bus stop and check your mobile device and see, is there a delay that I missed? So I would just tell parents that the call that we make to you is by far an important part of the process. But there are other methods where you can check to see what our status is for the day and we would encourage them to double-check.
00:14:33:15 - 00:14:36:27
Jeff Krakoff: All right. Well, thanks for talking with me today. Have a great day.
00:14:37:10 - 00:14:39:01
Linda Andreassi: Thank you. You too.
00:14:39:03 - 00:14:40:03
Jeff Krakoff: Take care.