All school leaders understand the value and importance of school-to-home communications. Whether via text, phone call, email or social media, these communications help ensure a strong school community, involve parents in their child’s learning, alert guardians of changes in the school calendar, or notify families when there are critical incidents at school, such as weather-related closings, evacuations or lockdowns.
Increasingly, school districts are turning to automated notification systems that leverage multiple channels for quick and easy ongoing communications to families and the school community. Understanding and complying with recently updated rules surrounding a federal law called the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is crucial for school leaders so they can not only maximize their investments in automated notification systems, but also ensure their organization’s communication practices follow the law.
The Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC’s) original intent with TCPA was to protect people from being charged for telemarketing calls that they received. Generally, the law prohibits what are described as “calls made by automated dialing systems” to services like mobile phones, and those for which the called party is charged, like VOIP. But the law is now 25 years old, and the telecommunications landscape has, to say the least, changed dramatically since 1991.
The way people use phones has continued to evolve quickly, too – cell phones are no longer just mobile voice calling devices. According to a 2015 Pew Research Center report, 64 percent of U.S. adults now own smartphones, up from just 35 percent five years ago.
In light of all of those changes, last year the FCC issued clarification on the TCPA in response to several requests. Some of these clarifications pose new challenges for schools. These apply not only to voice calls, but also to automated text messages. (Rules for mass emails are covered by other regulations, but not by TCPA.)
Compliance with TCPA is critical because the penalties can be severe: consumers can sue the party making the calls for up to $1,500 per call if the violations are shown to be willful and intentional. The FCC has authority to assess civil monetary penalties of up to $16,000 per violation.
Schools and school districts must gain the permission of the person who receives the call or text at the mobile phone number being used for the messages and calls, and that permission applies to the combination of that person and that specific phone number. If an individual’s phone number, or the owner of the number, changes, the school no longer has consent for that number.
The responsibility for proving the sender of the message has the recipient’s consent lies with the sender—in K-12 education, that’s the school or district. Written proof of consent is not required except for marketing messages, but it is strongly recommended, because it is typically the easiest way to prove consent in the event of a conflict. In addition, people who receive the calls or texts must be able to opt out.
The FCC allowed that emergency calls are still exempt from the restrictions, but schools and districts should check other specifics with their legal counsel, because interpretations of the updated rules may differ in each jurisdiction.
However, these seven best practices are a good starting point for schools seeking to comply with the recently revised rules (though these are not intended to be legal advice):
- Get permission to call and text. Building up a consent or “opt-in” database can take time but given the rules, doing so is a must. Plus, there’s a very practical upside by actively requiring families to say yes to receiving messages: People who provide permission to contact them are generally more aware that they should be paying attention to messages from the school or district. To get consent for using a phone number, a paper form (sent as part of an information packet at the beginning of school year, for example) or an online form may be all that’s needed and fits into a schools’ beginning-of-year routine. Getting permission to send text messages can usually be automated, or handled in the same manner as voice calls.Texas’ Copperas Cove Independent School District, for example, is using QR codes to help automate opt-ins. “We had a flyer with a QR code on it, and that made the process very efficient for us,” said Wendy Sledd, the district’s public information officer. “We posted it on our Facebook page and Twitter, and got parents to start opting in with that code.”
- Pay attention to opt-outs. As important as it is to get families to opt in, opt-outs are just as vital. Find a way to capture opt-out requests and block those numbers in a reasonable amount of time.
Take it from Dr. Staci Stanfield, director of communications for Tomball Independent School District in Texas: “We have a strong procedure in place so that if somebody has changed a phone number, doesn’t live in our district or simply doesn’t want to receive our calls, we go through and make those edits and changes right away,” she says. “We have been able to respond to those scenarios very quickly.” - Give families a way to control what messages they receive and how they get them. Such control can be done on a web portal, in a mobile app or in other ways. If someone feels they are in control of the messages they are getting from a district or school, they are less likely to complain if they get a message they didn’t expect because they know they can change that preference.
- Avoid commercial solicitations. If you are sending a fundraising appeal, consider what other channels you might have available. An email, a message on your website or using a social media platform might be more practical. With express consent from the recipients, a text message might be OK, but keep in mind that texts have to be 140 characters or less and that may be too limiting.
- Make database maintenance a regular part of your workflow. Keeping contact databases current should be a routine task, and schools should constantly confirm and verify that phone numbers are current—and still associated with the individuals who granted permission to use them—and that those recipients still want to get information from you.
- Avoid message fatigue. If one message is sufficient, don’t send two. Use the messaging system’s technology to keep an eye on whether people are listening to full voice messages or opening emails; if those figures are declining, it could be a sign that they’re receiving too many messages.
- Match the message to the channel. When determining which medium to use, consider how much detail you need to convey and the need for immediate action. Reserve text and phone calls for topics such as school attendance notifications, emergency closures or that night’s homework assignment. Pre-game pep rallies might be most effectively communicated via email when recipients can read it on their own time rather than via a more intrusive text or phone call.
If TCPA has made the prospect of using automated voice calls more complicated for your school district, that’s understandable. But there are ways to deal with TCPA to meet communications needs. Parents now expect to be contacted in multiple ways and want to get messages in the ways that work best for them, whether it’s email, voice or text. Thanks to smartphones, they’re used to getting texts and push notifications from their favorite apps. Clearly, those channels can be used by schools to communicate important information where and when it’s relevant to parents and guardians. Just be sure you have permission first.
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