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📱 A miscommunication caused an emergency message to be sent to the wrong school’s parents through the Apptegy platform.
⚠️ The error was due to human oversight, and district officials have promised additional safeguards.
💬 Apptegy is mostly used manually, except for attendance alerts, and cost the district over $100K last year.
After a mis-sent message landed in the voicemail box and text messages of Plew Elementary School students’ parents last week concerning a safety situation – we asked the school district about how the messaging system that notifies parents about emergencies works.
According to School District Public Information Officer Catherine Card, the Okaloosa County School District uses a messaging service called Apptegy.
“This system integrates our district and school websites, mobile apps, notification tools, and ADA compliance into a streamlined solution. It allows us to communicate efficiently and effectively with families, staff, and the community through one centralized platform,” Card explained.
Here’s What the School District told us about the messaging system:
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Card told us that this is the first-ever “instance of a miscommunication” since the Okaloosa County School District began using Apptegy in 2022. “communication since the implementation of this platform in January 2022. The error was the result of human oversight—information intended for Kenwood Elementary parents was inadvertently sent to families at Plew Elementary. The issue was quickly identified, and immediate corrective action was taken. A follow-up message was sent to Plew’s parents advising them to disregard the previous alert, and the appropriate communication was sent to Kenwood families,” she said. Card apologized for the confusion and concern that resulted from the miscommunication and said that the School District planned to implement additional safeguards to stop something like this from happening again. “We appreciate the community’s understanding and continued trust in our commitment to timely and accurate communication,” Card added.
“No,” Card responded. “The only automated feature is the distribution of attendance notifications (such as absences). All other messages, including emergency, weather, and general announcements, are manually written, reviewed, and sent by school or District staff.”
There are two types of messages created and sent to parents and guardians on the Apptegy platform that Card responded to our inquires with.
The first are Safety Messages (Secure/Lockdown). “Prewritten scripts for Secure and Lockdown situations allow for rapid communication,” Card explained, “Once school safety personnel notify the District Communications Department of a safety event, a message is issued quickly. These messages can be sent remotely from any location. This process is managed at the District level to allow school administrators to focus entirely on ensuring the safety of students and staff.”
The second and much more common message from the platform concerns weather-related notifications that concern the school. “Weather messages are carefully crafted to inform families and staff about developing conditions and District decisions. To ensure transparency and clarity, these messages often include specific details on anticipated weather, any changes to the school schedule (such as delayed start times), and the reasoning behind those decisions,” Card wrote in an email to Mid Bay News.
Card told us that the Apptegy platform cost the Okaloosa County School District $102,165 in the last year on a contract that renews annually in June.
There is not an exact count of how many messages are sent through the app in a give year – but Card said each school determines the usage level of the app at their schools.
