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Growing Number of Texas Schools Are Implementing SchoolReach Parent Notification System.

ST. LOUIS, Jun 18, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Bringing the total to more than 300, some 40 school districts, private schools and archdioceses across the state of Texas have implemented the SchoolReach Instant Parent Contact system this year alone. The SchoolReach parent notification system allows school administrators to deliver personalized phone, email or text messages to parents, teachers, staff or select groups within the school and general community.

Using state-of-the-art technology, SchoolReach allows school officials to record a brief message for delivery to an extensive, or selective, list of parents, teachers or students, simultaneously. Because the SchoolReach system is able to call or text parents at a preferred phone number or multiple phone numbers, including work, home or cell phone numbers, the system performs extremely well in emergency situations when every second is critical.

San Felipe Del Rio CISD, Keene ISD, Schulenburg ISD and Santa Gertrudis ISD in Kingsville are just four of the districts that have added SchoolReach to their communications toolbox this year. And just last month the Texas Region 17 Education Service Center entered an agreement with SchoolReach wherein service center members, which consist of the 20 counties surrounding Lubbock, Texas, will receive an exclusive discount for SchoolReach's service.

"Texas districts clearly see the need for quick and clear communications between schools and parents," said Paul Langhorst, vice president of operations at GroupCast, SchoolReach's parent company. "For instance, four Texas districts and four individual schools closed in late April due to reported cases of the H1N1 'swine flu' virus. In situations like that, schools need to get the word out to everyone involved as quickly and effectively as possible. And although school closings are no longer being called for, some experts anticipate a resurgence of the virus when the cold months return. These administrators can rest assured that a quick, reliable communications system is in place if the need arises again," Langhorst continued.

The West Oso Independent School District (ISD) in Corpus Christi, Texas was one of SchoolReach's customers that did indeed close due to a H1N1 case. "The health department notified us on a Friday night that we had a probable case," said Grace Garza, the district's PEIM (Public Education Information Management System) coordinator. Instead of heading back to the office, Garza was able to log into the web-based system from her home, use the system's data integrator software to automatically update the recipient lists, and then create a message notifying all district staff and parents.

"Our families have children in several schools, so it's difficult for parents to keep some at home and send others to school," Garza explained. And although the district also made use of local media, Garza felt it was important to send parents a more detailed message about the situation via SchoolReach. She had the opportunity to once more use the system away from the office when the duration of the closure was shortened from the originally proposed week to only three days. As a result, she considers the "mobile" nature of the system a major advantage. "You don't have to be at your computer in your office. You can use it anywhere with Internet connectivity," she said.

The West Oso ISD implemented SchoolReach in 2007 as a replacement for a modem-based notification system that Garza described as "antiquated." The previous system was so expensive that it was purchased for only two of the schools and proved so cumbersome that those schools only used it to inform parents about attendance issues. "We had a hard time getting assistance from that software company," recalled Garza. Now all the district's schools are using SchoolReach to communicate about attendance issues as well as announce functions, PTA meetings and other events.

"SchoolReach is not just popular among Texas schools," said Langhorst. "Overall, we are seeing much faster adoption of this technology across the country. In earlier periods much of our time was spent educating administrators on the basics of the technology. Now they get it...and want it," said Langhorst. "Our notification service currently is used in thousands of schools across all states, except Alaska, and we're working on that!" About GroupCast and SchoolReach GroupCast is a St. Louis-based instant messaging notification service.

SchoolReach, a subsidiary of GroupCast, is the leading parent notification service among private schools, and the fastest growing service used by public schools across the country. More information about GroupCast or SchoolReach can be found at www.groupcast.com and www.schoolreach.com or by calling 800-420-1479.