Calgary Herald

Attendance glitch at northeast school throws parents into a panic

- ANNALISE KLINGBEIL

Panicked parents descended on a northeast kindergart­en to Grade 3 school on Monday morning after an automated absence message was accidental­ly sent to the families of every child.

The CBE said human error was behind the incident and in a letter sent home with students on Monday, the school apologized for a glitch that caused “significan­t undue worry” for parents.

Nearly an hour after dropping their child or children off at Coventry Hills School, parents said they received an automated email around 9: 52 a. m. and a phone call around 10 a. m. Monday stating their child was marked absent during attendance.

Parents were asked to contact the school via telephone to confirm their child was away but when worried parents called the number provided, the phone line rang busy.

Knowing they had dropped their young child off at the school an hour earlier and concerned they were reportedly absent, more than a dozen parents drove to the school on Monday morning to ensure their child was safe.

Andrea Vogel’s son attends Grade 2 at the school and after she received an automated phone call on her home line and cellphone stating her child had been marked absent, panic set in.

“You can’t help but have in the back of your mind a what if,” she said.

“You send your child to school every day and you trust that they’re in great care and they’re going to make it home safely.”

The school quickly realized the absent message had been mistakenly sent and parents reported getting a retraction email eight minutes after the first email was received, and a second automated phone call about 15 minutes after the first voice message.

But the retraction wasn’t received until worried parents had already arrived at the school.

Vogel tried calling the phone number provided in the automatic message but when it continue to ring busy, she grabbed her keys and drove to the school to ensure her son was safe.

The CBE said the absent message erroneousl­y went to the families of every student at the school — last year’s enrolment at Coventry Hills School was 590 students.

“This morning an error was made that accidental­ly sent out an absence message to the families of children who were not absent. Within a matter of minutes the error was realized and the school sent out a retraction email and voice message explaining the mistake,” the CBE told the Herald in an emailed statement.

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