If you see something, use district’s Anonymous Alerts to say something

Our anonymous alerts system continues to go unused as some students struggle not knowing about this useful reporting system.

Although our schools do their best to maintain a safe environment, often things can seep through the cracks. From bullying to alcohol and drug use, anonymous alerts allow you to report incidents or ongoing problems at your school anonymously. This makes it a great tool for students who are afraid to speak up. However, this tool isn’t used due to students not knowing about it.

Janelle Darst, the district’s director of communications and community relationships, said, “It’s so hard to find the right way to tell people. There isn’t going to be one way everyone is going to know about it, so we just are going to have to keep reminding people and keep it as a tool because the longer we have it the more it can be used.”

Even though it is underused, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it. Anonymous alerts help school staff be aware of things happening around the school. When school staff aren’t aware of what’s going on, often the conflict or problem doesn’t get resolved, but with anonymous alerts they can become aware of a situation without students being in danger of being bothered by fellow students. 

“We get notified when an alert comes in,” Darst said. “We are immediately allowed to talk with the principal of that school or for those involved to start an investigation or to address the concern as soon as we can. We learned that students, depending on the situation, would be reluctant to talk about it out of fear of retaliation or being seen as a tattletale by other students.”

If you wish to use this website, you can go to the school page and anonymous alerts should be listed at the top. You can also use this link https://report.anonymousalerts.com/cedarfallscsd. Once you click the link, you are sent to the reporting site, and you need to confirm what school you’re attending, if you’re a student, staff or other, and where the incident occurred. Afterward you will type up what happened and submit it. Students will also have the option of sending a video of what happened if they want to give more information to help with the investigation.