Automated Alert Snafu: Fox Chapel Area School District Sends Out Mistaken Absence Messages

Parents within the Fox Chapel Area School District awoke to a moment of unexpected panic on a recent Friday morning as automated messages erroneously informed them their children were absent from school. The district swiftly moved to rectify the alarming situation, attributing the widespread notifications to a technical glitch during a system update.

The unsettling messages, which incorrectly stated students were not present in class, began circulating around 10:45 a.m.

on Friday, January 19, 2018. For many parents, this sudden notification was a cause for immediate concern and confusion, as their children had indeed left for school as usual that day.

Understanding the distress these alerts would cause, the district acted quickly. Superintendent Dr. Robert Scherrer confirmed the incident, explaining that the erroneous messages stemmed from issues encountered during the update or migration of the district's automated attendance system to a new server or software platform.

The system, specifically the A+ Attendance program, is designed to log student attendance and notify parents of absences. Unfortunately, on this occasion, it malfunctioned.

Within a short period, the Fox Chapel Area School District issued a follow-up message to all affected parents and guardians.

This crucial second communication contained a sincere apology for the error and provided a clear explanation of the technical difficulties that led to the mistaken absentee reports. The swift clarification aimed to alleviate the anxiety and confusion caused by the initial alerts.

District officials immediately engaged with the system vendor to diagnose and resolve the underlying technical problem.

While the incident undoubtedly caused a momentary scare for numerous families, the rapid response and transparent communication from the Fox Chapel Area School District helped to manage the situation and reassure the community that the matter was being addressed with urgency.