Issue link: https://fredparent.uberflip.com/i/1541428
www.FredericksburgParent.NET 21 The app is loaded onto school laptops. The chat feature is accessible between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily, Wyatt said, and students can log into the other features during free time in class or with instructor permission. Alongside comes with screening that will activate an alert any time a student types a trigger word into the chat or into their journal. Nine people in each of the five division schools—a mix of Central Office staff, administrators, counselors, social workers, and psychologists— get the alert, Wyatt said, and someone will do an in-person check-in with the student. The response time between receiving the alert and personally check- ing in with the student has been under 15 minutes, Wyatt said. So far, Alongside has activated 15 alerts and 10 of those have led to the development of a safety plan for the student involved. Eberhardt said this feature is why the division felt it was important for families to have to opt-out of the app, rather than opt-in. "Opting-out creates a safety net," he said. "Everyone is in the pool and it catches as many issues as we can." Wyatt said that as of last week, 24 families have opted their children out of Alongside. She said families can opt out, or opt back in, at any time. That messaging was not clear to many of the parents who raised concerns about Alongside at School Board meetings in September and October. Parents also said they were worried about the AI component and about student privacy and the potential sharing of sensi- tive mental health information. And they said information about the app from the division has been inconsistent. "I think we could have done a better job rolling it out," Eberhardt said. "We wanted teachers to get the information out to par- ents. We don't believe that happened and that's a problem. It should have been rolled out at the division level. We should have done a better job." Still, Eberhardt said Alongside is valuable as a Tier 1 mental health intervention—meaning it catches all students. In addition to Alongside, the division is train- ing all 7th grade students in the suicide pre- vention program SOS Signs of Suicide, and has now administered teen Mental Health First Aid training to all 10th grade students two years in a row. Eberhardt said the division wants to empow- er kids to help each other, but, "We're also not backing away from the message of 'See something, say something.'" The FXBG ADVANCE is Fredericksburg Parent's sister publication. The personalized coaching happens through a chat with Kiwi, Alongside's llama mascot.