San Mateo School District Partners With Tech Firm To Prevent Bullying

SAN MATEO, CA — A Peninsula school district has added a new tool it hopes will help prevent bullying.

The San Mateo-Foster City School District has partnered with a tech firm in the implementation of an app that aims to promote a bully-free environment.

The district announced its partnership with Anonymous Alerts in a news release.

The Anonymous Alerts Incident Reporting mobile application for San Mateo-Foster City School District features an anonymous reporting system that will make it easier to submit reports about bullying, mental health concerns, or other threatening behavior directly to school officials.

"We promote building trust with educators at the building level, however giving our students a system to anonymously report a concern is a great way to empower students to be heard and ask for help,” Superintendent of Schools Diego R. Ochoa said in a statement.

“The Anonymous Alerts reporting tool will provide a secure outlet for sharing issues and concerns while supplying readily available critical mental health resources to our students. Students can have an anonymous 2-way dialogue with administrators about a tip they submitted giving further details to help with their concern."

Students, parents, and staff members can download the Anonymous Alerts app for free.

An activation code will be provided by the district, and a custom website portal link will be located on district and school website pages to encourage students to send anonymous reports from any web browser.

There will also be a comprehensive student Help Center located on the mobile app with mental health resources and other content linked from the Internet.

By default, anonymous, two-way communication, if selected by the submitter, will be available from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Reports filed outside of these times will be responded to during the next school day.

The district will provide designated school personnel access to the web-based and mobile-based Incident Management System to anonymously communicate with reporters, take action on the submitted information, set threat assessment levels, and much more.

"Our Anonymous Alerts reporting system will help San Mateo-Foster schools give students a voice and act as an early warning system for school administrators fostering safer school communities," Anonymous Alerts Founder and CEO T. Gregory Bender said in a statement.

For more information or to download the app, visit here.