Communications
Communications Services provides strategic communications advice and support to the Office of the Regional Executive Director, all departments within the Halifax Regional Centre for Education, and the 137 schools in our system. Communications also manages HRCE social media and the HRCE website.
For further information (including media inquiries), please contact communications@hrce.ca.
Hours of operation and response times
Communications Services will respond to media inquiries during regular hours of operation:
Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (excluding holidays).
Confirmation of receipt will be sent the same day, and we will aim to meet your timeline. After hours, Communications will only respond to media inquiries deemed urgent.
Priority will be given to inquiries from a recognized media organization. Other media and journalism student inquiries will be logged and responded to in order. For this reason, response times may vary.
Communicating with Families
PowerSchool SchoolMessenger is one of the tools that HRCE’s Central Office and schools use to communicate regularly with families. SchoolMessenger uses parent/guardian contact information in PowerSchool, which is provided when a student is registered and kept up to date annually through the HRCE Demographic Updates form. It’s important that contact information is up to date, so you are reachable at any time. If your number or email address changes throughout the school year, please contact your child’s school with any new information.
SchoolMessenger offers three ways to send messages: by email, by phone and by text message/SMS. You must opt-in to receive text message/SMS, by texting Y to the following number: 978338.
It’s important to note that most messages will come to you via email as they are informational in nature.
When there is a disruption to the typical operations of a school day (i.e., cancellation due to inclement weather, a midday* closure due to a power outage, a delayed opening, etc.), messages will come to you via email AND text message/SMS. *Please note: in the event of a midday closure, families with children in elementary grades will also receive a phone call from the school before children are dismissed.
HRCE’s Central Office does not use the phone message feature for communications as listed above. This function will be used in the event of a significant emergency impacting a school community, at HRCE’s discretion.
Schools communicate general information with families in a variety of ways. Schools will contact families directly by phone or email about an individual student’s academic progress or well-being. Please contact your child’s Principal if you have any questions about your school’s communication home.
Through PowerSchool and SchoolMessenger, there are two automated systems used to communicate student absences with families:
- Morning SafeArrival notifications (for grades PP-9)
- Evening attendance notifications (for upper grade levels)
In these cases, families will receive an email, text message/SMS and a phone call to notify them of an absence.