Rediker Software continues to respond to the changing needs of K-12 schools during the 2020 school year by providing the tools and guidance they need. Through its COVID Resource Center, Rediker is assisting school administrators in protecting the health, safety, and wellbeing of students, their families, teachers, and school staff.
Through its comprehensive SIS platform and powerful web-based products, Rediker is helping to empower educators to make the appropriate changes to meet new and evolving requirements. At the school or district level, administrators can inform community members of procedural changes or confirmed cases using Rediker’s AP Notify, which allows users to send community-wide emails, texts, and voice messages. At the school level, parents, students, and staff are kept informed by using Rediker’s PlusPortals to send emails and messages and post alerts. And with the Push Notifications feature, administrators can ensure that parents don't miss important messages by sending push notifications to their mobile devices through the ParentPlus app.
Schools who are in session full-time, or in a hybrid version of that, are also facing the challenge of monitoring the health of their school community. Regular home screenings for students and staff are an important part of a comprehensive school plan. Rediker’s PlusPortals include a Health Questionnaire screening form based on CDC guidelines. Administrators can enable that form in the PlusPortals Manager, make it required for parents and/or teachers, and control the distribution frequency. While the Health Questionnaire is active, the PlusPortals website will redirect parents and teachers to it when they log in. Email reminders and an improved mobile website layout are also helping schools keep students and staff safe with daily health check-ins.
Despite preventative measures, schools that are partially or fully open may still have a student who is exhibiting symptoms or has tested positive for COVID-19. In AdminPlus, reports can be run to identify students who share a bus, homeroom, and classes with the student and to access their parent/guardian contact information.
Whether schools are meeting in-person, at home or anywhere in between, communication plays a vital role in keeping staff and families up to date on the latest school developments. Monitoring tasks such as screenings, specialized attendance tracking, contact tracing, quarantine management, and data reporting can be daunting without the proper tools and guidance. Rediker Software is responding to these needs with new and existing features to support highly-flexible, completely customizable school management plans.
“On our COVID 19 Support Center we highlighted the features in our products that can help schools manage some of the needs around this health emergency, such as reporting, communication and adding a health screening questionnaire,” said Rediker President Andrew Anderlonis. “We included instructions on how to do a screening form with Online forms but also added a new Health Screening Questionnaire feature in the portals that is explained in this support center as well.”
Rediker’s COVID Resource Center also includes official guidance from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to prevent a COVID outbreak at school, or to respond appropriately if an outbreak occurs. Links within the CDC website provide key strategies for community mitigation to reduce or prevent COVID-19 transmission, which in turn helps schools stay open safely.