Enhanced communication credited for missing child alerts
By Terry Murry on Thursday, November 7th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – Over the last two years the Pendleton School District has launched alerts regarding students whose parents reported them to be missing. Pendleton Police Lt. Tony Nelson said it’s because the district has upped its game in communicating with concerned parents.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a sign of increasing danger,” Nelson said of the uptick in reports. “It’s a lot more of communication back and forth.”
Nelson said that it wasn’t many years ago when parents waited anxiously for their children to come home from school.
“As with most people our age, no one knew where we were,” he said. “No one knew what house you’re at, who to call, or anything like that. So, the school district is really good. They have a “REMIND” application that everyone with a school-aged child should sign up for.”
REMIND is primarily a texting program but can also be used to send recorded messages via text or make phone calls directly. Those using it can include photos, other attachments, and links to programs like Google Classroom.
Nelson said the app is great for teachers and parents because it’s another way to track learning. It’s also invaluable for law enforcement.
“It helps us get a hold of a school administrator and help us target certain areas where we need to get information out, or just district wide,” he said. “It gets information flooded much more quickly than the other social media applications. We can get an idea of where that person is within 15 minutes to an hour depending on what the case is.”
