FAQs - School News Notifier (SNN) - BH-BL Central School District, Glenville NY

A. Our School News Notifier (SNN) is an opt-in email alert system where parents and others can sign up to receive e-mail alerts from the district. Administrators have the ability to send updates and reminders about school and Board of Education activities, or information about emergency school closings and delays. You can choose to receive any or all of the alerts, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Q. How do I sign up?

A. Go to the SNN home page and create a profile. You will be asked to fill in your name, your e-mail address and to select a password. (If you wish to provide your cell phone number and carrier, you can also receive text message alerts when school is closed unexpectedly -- see details below.) Once you create your profile, you will be asked to select which alerts you would like to receive. Once you choose your alerts and click subscribe, you will be all set! (You can change your selected alerts at anytime by logging in to the system.) You are also welcome to create a second profile for yourself using a second email address if you would like to have alerts sent to you both at work and at home, for example.

Q. How do I log in?

A. Go to the SNN home page, enter your e-mail address and password in the appropriate fields and press the Login button.

Q. How do I subscribe or unsubscribe to a specific alert or notification?

A. After you log in, your profile page will appear. Click the checkbox next to each notification you'd like to receive and then click 'Update'. If you leave a box blank you will automatically be removed from that list.

Q. How do I unsubscribe to all notifications?

A. I f you decide that you don't want to receive ANY updates from BHBL's SNN system, it is easy to unsubscribe. When you visit the SNN home page, there is an "unsubscribe" link on the right hand navigational rail. Click on it, fill in the form and you're done!

Q. What notifications do you offer?

A. Currently, we offer the following 8 notifications:

1. Emergency school closings and delays: Find out via email when any of our five schools is closed unexpectedly due to severe weather or other emergency. Alerts will also go out when classes are on a one-hour or two-hour delay in the morning, or when ALL afterschool or evening activities are cancelled due to bad weather. NEW in AUGUST 2009: By providing your cell phone number and cellular carrier, you can now also receive Emergency School Closing alerts on their cell phone.

2. Board of Education Budget Development Announcement: Sign up for this notification if you are interested in following the process of creating the next school budget. Emails will go out to let you know that new information about the budget has been posted on our website or to announce an upcoming community budget forum.

3. Change in Sex Offender Residency: Find out via email whenever our school district is notified by the police that a registered sex offender has moved into or changed residency in our district. This is a rare occurrence, but signing up for this notification will allow you to share whatever limited information we receive from either state or town police.(Note: you can also find information on sex offenders at any time on the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services web pages.)

4. Charlton Heights News: This alert will send you information on news, events and activities specific to Charlton Heights Elementary School.

5. Pashley News: This alert will send you information on news, events and activities specific to Pashley Elementary School.

6. Stevens News: This alert will send you information on news, events and activities specific to Francis L. Stevens Elementary School.

7. O'Rourke News: This alert will send you information on news, events and activities specific to the Richard H. O'Rourke Middle School.

8. High School News: This alert will send you information on news, events and activities specific to the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School.

Q. How often will I receive an alert?

A . The number of email alerts you receive will depend on which alert(s) you have signed up for and how often that event occurs.

Q.Can I sign up if I don't have a cell phone?
A. Sure. You can sign up to receive any of the 8 above-listed alerts via email.

Q. Why are you asking for my cell phone number and cellular carrier?
A. The BHBL School News Notifier (SNN) now provides users with the option to receive emergency text alerts on their cell phones in addition to email notifications. If you wish to receive emergency text-message alerts, you need to provide your cell phone number and the name of your cellular carrier to initiate the service. If you do not want to receive emergency text-messages on your cell phone, simply leave the cell phone field blank and proceed to sign-up for email alerts.

Q.How do I sign up if my cell phone carrier isn't listed on the SNN Sign-up Page?
A. If your cellular carrier is not listed on the SNN Sign-up page, please e-mail the name of your carrier to the district Webmaster and we will determine if that carrier can be accomodated.

Q.I already have an SNN profile. Do I need to create a new one to add text messaging?
A. If you are already a SNN subscriber, you can add the text messaging option to your existing profile at any time. You will just need to add your cell phone number and cellular carrier to your profile, and then click ‘Update.’

Q. Can I delete or change my cell phone number without deleting my entire profile?
A. Yes, the system is designed so that you can add or delete information from your profile at any time. If you no longer wish to receive emergency alerts on your cell phone, simply delete the cell phone number and carrier from your profile page, and then click ‘Update’. Unless you make other changes to your personal profile, you will continue to receive SNN email messages from each of the notification groups checked in your profile. If you leave a box blank you, or unclick a box, you will be automatically removed from that list.

Q. What will it cost me to receive emergency alerts on my cell phone?
A. The cost will depend entirely on your cell phone plan. Depending on your wireless carrier provider, and the plan you have, you may be charged a small fee to receive SMS text messages. If your plan offers unlimited text messaging, there would be no additional charge. Your cellular provider can clarify the terms of your plan. (NOTE: We expect to send out these emergency notices pretty rarely. Over the course of a typical winter in our area, the school district may send out anywhere from five to ten emergency notices due to bad weather.)

Q. Am I going to start getting junk mail messages on my cell phone?
A. No, as a subscriber to the SNN text message service you will only receive emergency alerts from the BH-BL Central School District. The email address and/or cell phone number included in your SNN user profile are maintained on a secure database. The school district does not provide any information about SNN subscribers to any third parties for any purpose.

Q. Why are text messages limited to emergency alerts?
A. The SNN text messaging service is designed to improve student safety by providing parents and other subscribers with time-sensitive alerts about school closings, delays, and other emergencies. Since most cellular carriers, and many cell phone models, limit the size of text messages, our alerts can be no longer than 100 characters in length. Most of the other messages we send out about school events and programs contain detailed information that would not fit the size constraints of cell phone text messages.

This page is maintained according to the BH-BL Web Guidelines by Christy Multer (518) 399-9141, ext. 5017. © 2005 Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Central School District. All rights reserved. Produced in cooperation with the Capital Region BOCES Communications Service. The School News Notifier (SNN) is produced and maintained in cooperation with the Capital Region BOCES Communications Service. For more information please contact Ken Petersen.