As districts across the country move to remote learning, maintaining strong ties between schools and families is more important than ever. jmc has the tools to make sure students and their families stay in touch with school as they continue to learn from home.
jmc’s Message Center (found in the Office module) is integrated with all jmc software. It allows users to easily connect with families through
The Message Center is the only jmc program that allows users to connect with specific groups, such as families of students on a specific bus or in a specific after-school activity. Message Center is a great way to communicate everything from emergency updates to rescheduled events to simple parent and student check-ins.
Next there’s jmc Teacher, which allows teachers to access student grading data from anywhere they have internet access, such as a home desktop computer, phone, or tablet, assuring that they’re using the same data they use while working at school.
With jmc Teacher, teachers can
Finally there’s jmc’s Coach Advisor app. This free mobile app allows teachers and staff to communicate with students and families without opening their computer.
Using any mobile device, teachers simply add their students’ names to create new rosters, such as “Mr. McElmury’s Fabulous Fourth Graders,” or “Third Period Chemistry.” Once a roster is set up, teachers can send and schedule an array of messages to the students and their families, whether it's an email, text, phone call, or text-to-voice message. If desired, teachers can even send an attachment through the app as well. Best of all for administrators, every message is logged in the system. That means users can go back later to see what messages were sent and when.
“As a former school administrator, I can attest that there’s incredible power in this tool in the current climate, both in terms of education and the ability to keep parents and students engaged,” says Lynn Evans, former Superintendent at Alta-Aurelia Community School District in Alta, IA. “In a lot of rural areas, not all families have access to high-speed internet; they may not even have a computer at home. But the vast majority of people do have a cell phone, so having the ability to push out texts and keep them informed and up to date really is key right now. I encourage schools to contact jmc to learn how to use this tool to its greatest capacity.”
Learn more about Message Center’s features in these free video tutorials. To download the Coach Advisor app, visit the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
