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The Winnipeg School Division is rolling out an app that allows parents to alert the school of upcoming absences but also allows parents to be notified when their child is late or missing a class.

The SafeArrival app is currently being used in 33 of the division’s 59 elementary schools, according to Doug Edmond, Director of Research, Planning and Technology Services.

“If the child doesn’t show, there’s a message that goes home by phone, or if parent chooses ‘via email or the app’ it will give them a notification to see if there’s if there’s anything going on,” he said. Tweet This

“The parent can phone the school, respond to the email or respond to the notification in the app.”

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The app has been rolling out to different schools since the new year.

Jasmine Anchiuk’s son Carlos is in Grade 4. She says she’s already used the app a few times since it was first introduced to her child’s school in September.

“So far it’s just reporting if my son’s going to be ill from school and upcoming appointments if he has them,” she said.

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Norma Choken has three grandchildren in the division but says none of the schools they go to have the app yet. She is frustrated by the current system.

“They’ll call later on at night after 5 saying ‘this child didn’t attend school today’. That’s it, so it doesn’t tell me anything, like ‘OK my child didn’t go to school, how come you’re telling me this now?’ What if my child didn’t come home later on after 4 and had been missing?” she said.

Choken says she hopes to have the option for using the app soon.

The division hopes to have all elementary schools on board by the end of the school year.