San Mateo-Foster City School District Partners with Anonymous Alerts to Introduce School Safety Tip Reporting Solutions

Anonymous Alerts to provide Anonymous Reporting, Incident Management and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The San Mateo-Foster City School District is committed to ensure students have a safe and secure learning environment. In September, the district implemented the Anonymous Alerts Reporting App. The anonymous reporting system (ARS) empowers students to submit tips about bullying, self-harm, violence, mental health concerns, or other threatening behavior directly to school officials. The Anonymous Alerts reporting system will empower students to 'See Something, Do Something' where they can report an imminent threat without fear of consequence. This allows the school to assess the report and act proactively.

In 2019, the Secret Service published a report detailing targeted school violence. The report found that in 83% of the incidents they studied, the individuals that carried out threats communicated their plans online, through social media, or by other communications prior to the event being carried out. Since COVID-19, the discourse around student mental health has become a major point of conversation for school district communities. The tragedy in Uvalde also heightened public schools' interest in providing additional safety measures. Offering a safe channel for students to communicate about their experiences is instrumental in promoting positive healthy behaviors as they navigate educational adaptations.

"We promote building trust with educators at the building level, however giving our students a system to anonymously report a concern is a great way to empower students to be heard and ask for help. The Anonymous Alerts reporting tool will provide a secure outlet for sharing issues and concerns while supplying readily available critical mental health resources to our students. Students can have an anonymous 2-way dialogue with administrators about a tip they submitted giving further details to help with their concern," said Diego R. Ochoa, Superintendent of Schools.

Students, parents, and staff members can download the Anonymous Alerts® app for free and gain access to the system by using a simple, unique activation code provided by the district. A custom website portal link will be located on district and school website pages to encourage students to send anonymous reports from any web browser. There will also be a comprehensive student Help Center located on the mobile app with mental health resources and other content linked from the Web. By default, anonymous, two-way communication, if selected by the submitter, will be available from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Reports filed outside of these times will be responded to during the next school day.

The district will be giving designated school personnel access to the web-based and mobile-based Incident Management System developed by Anonymous Alerts to anonymously communicate with reporters, take action on the submitted information, set threat assessment levels, and much more.

"Our Anonymous Alerts reporting system will help San Mateo-Foster schools give students a voice and act as an early warning system for school administrators fostering safer school communities," said T. Gregory Bender, Founder and CEO of Anonymous Alerts, LLC

Throughout the nation and abroad, Anonymous Alerts provides wrap-around safety technology solutions to thousands of educational institutions, organizations, healthcare, and public safety groups. Through rapid innovation, deep experience, vast expertise, and a broad customer base, our award-winning and patented technology protects millions of students, employees, and community members. The safety systems are designed to be completely customizable for each client's specific needs. Anonymous Alerts® (U.S. Patent No. 10,944,726; 9,071,579) and Smart Button® (U.S. Patent No. 10,419,399) are patented with additional patents pending. Anonymous Alerts, LLC is based in White Plains, New York. For more information, please visit www.anonymousalerts.com.

Contact at Anonymous Alerts, LLC
Name: Anonymous Alerts Relations
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (203) 293-9770
Website: www.anonymousalerts.com

Contact at San Mateo-Foster City School District
Name: Diego Perez, Coordinator of Communications and Community Services
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 650.312-7391
Website: https://www.smfcsd.net/

SOURCE Anonymous Alerts