Absences

On January 6, 2025, Ponca City Public Schools will begin automated calls to parents/guardians of students who are marked absent during the school day, and no communication was made from parent/guardians about the absence to the school. The automated calls will begin at 3pm each day.

This service will be conducted through a new application, SchoolMessenger, in the student information system, PowerSchool.

SchoolMessenger is an application implemented to improve parental outreach, emergency broadcasts, student attendance alerts and other important school to home communications.

SchoolMessenger is designed to automatically notify parents of attendance and academic performance of students. Schools will also be able to share announcements through SchoolMessenger for events such as state testing dates, parent nights, and registration events for current and returning students.

SchoolMessenger will not replace current school communication methods. The district’s implementation of the system is intended to extend its commitment to remain personally connected with parents by offering additional and timely communications.