The Katonah-Lewisboro School District in New York reveal that its physical education instructors and coaches have found a new way to communicate with students to avoid having direct contact through texting.

Many might be wondering why these instructors don’t stick to email messages, well, the problem is students aren’t always checking their emails.

“We’re always looking for better ways to communicate with everyone, as coaches and as an athletic department,” said Geoff Curtis, K-12 physical education instructional leader, during a presentation to the school board on Jan. 7, according to The Lewisboro Ledger.

“They had just made a state law that you can’t communicate with phone numbers and texting to students, which for a while was the best and fastest way. It’s how the kids are talking so much, that coaches found themselves thinking, ‘If you’re not going to check your email, I can’t get messages to you,’ and if you’re taking a trip out of state — which we’ve done in lots of different areas — it just didn’t make sense.”

So, the districts physical education leaders and coaches have turned to a quick notification app called Remind. The app allows you to set push notifications on devices and all it takes to be added to the list is simply downloading the app and signing up for the necessary fields that allow students and parents to get updates.

“It’s a quick and easy and safe way for parents and/or teachers and students to communicate,” said Curtis.

According to Remind’s homepage, 1 in 3 K-12 schools are using the app. 

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Article by Navindra Persaud, Education World Contributor