NSW Education enters a new era in Parent Communication - MGM selected for system-wide schools texting
21st May, 2008
School services leader MGM Wireless today announced that the Sydney Region NSW Department of Education and Training has awarded the company its tender for the provision of sms and Parent communication services.
MGM’s patented School News Channel service will be made available across the state to the largest education system in the world*, allowing more than 2,300 schools plus 144 TAFE colleges to manage their own communications from a secure website.
A school administrator or teacher with appropriate authority will be able to use School News Channel on the web to keep parents, caregivers and students informed with alerts about attendance, reminders, emergencies and other important information of interest to the school or college community.
“NSW has selected an entry point module of School News Channel, providing schools instant access,” says MGM Wireless Executive Chairman Mark Fortunatow. “School News Channel primary feature – the ’on-demand, Parent Questions and Answer’ service is available to schools as an additional future growth option”.
Mr Fortunatow points out that when the company was founded in 2003, specialised School to Parent SMS communication solutions were non-existent.
“Over the past five years, schools across Australia have embraced these systems because of their ability to automate - in a highly individual and personal way, the time consuming and often complex daily task of school to Parent communication. Each automated SMS text takes into account the families unique circumstances, history, culture, language (if non English) and many other unique characteristics of the relationship.’
“The sophistication required of these systems is often misunderstood. The latest systems go one step further by automating the matching and analysis of Parent reply messages, and automatically notifying School Principals and Teachers whenever an emerging risk is detected.”
With the signing of the NSW contract, MGM has a customer base of up to 3,500 schools, representing over 35% of all the 9,500 schools in Australia – a significant, commanding position in the Australian market.
The South Australian Government was the first education system to support and pioneer text messaging in schools for attendance and safety, when it adopted MGM’s messageyou™Schools in 2003. Last October, after a worldwide search and tender, the West Australian Government awarded a whole-of-state contract to MGM to implement messageyou™Schools in all of its 800 schools, with a strong focus on student welfare.
“The MGM board is delighted with this decision by the NSW Education Department, which follows on the WA Education Department’s decision to standardise on the messageyou™Schools platform last year,” Mr Fortunatow added.
About MGM Wireless Ltd and Messageyou, LLC
MGM Wireless Ltd is a public company with a market capitalisation of A$10m listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX: MWR) in 2003. The company trades as Messageyou, LLC in the United States, with its head office in Silicon Valley at Sunnyvale, Cal. The company’s patented School Attendance Management solutions empower schools to effectively communicate to parents and caregivers using SMS text messaging in combination with culturally sensitive communication to improve attendance, student welfare and safety. MGM Wireless is recognized in Australia and internationally as pioneers and market leaders. MGM’s professional services team delivers an integrated suite of software and communications using its own infrastructure. The solutions enable schools to reduce costs, increase productivity, discharge their duty of care, engage parent involvement, and ultimately improve student learning and social outcomes.
*NSW has a larger education systems than New York, when pre-school children are not taken into account. https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/reports_stats/fastfacts/index.htm#2; http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/DOEData/Stats/default.htm.
___________________________________________________________________________
AUSTRALIA |
|
In the news
Privacy
View our privacy information to see how we safeguard sensitive student data.
Feature
Electronic Roll Marking saves time, increases accuracy. More..
