1. Core Philosophy
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School Text Tips is designed from crisis/emergency law enforcement experience and built around a life safety culture, not a “Silicon Valley tech culture.” That makes it much more powerful for life-saving intervention and simple student access.
2. Anonymity
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Safety-First:
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Operational anonymity: Staff never see student numbers.
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Vendor retains numbers in escrow, accessible only with district safety chief’s approval (life safety or law enforcement need).
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Students are reassured it’s anonymous, but the district has a “break-glass” option for life safety emergencies.
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3. Ease of Use for Students
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Safety-First:
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SMS texting — works on any phone, no downloads, fastest path.
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Very low barrier to reporting.
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Why We Block Photos and Videos (and why you should not consider any platform that allows them)
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Child exploitation risk: Unfortunately, a system that accepts images or video could be abused to send sexually explicit or illegal content involving minors.
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If that file is forwarded to a staff member’s phone or inbox, it could immediately make the staff’s personal device “evidence” in a criminal case (and subject to seizure by police).
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Text-only is by design, to protect both students’ privacy and staff’s legal liability.
Why We Block Two- Way Communication (and why you should not consider any platform that allows that)
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Student safety: If staff (or a system) replies to a tip, you don’t know who has the phone at that moment. It could be:
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An abusive parent looking at the child’s texts.
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A bully who stole the phone.
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A student under peer pressure in a dangerous environment.
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Risk of exposure: A return message could accidentally reveal that the student reported something, putting them at risk of retaliation.
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Case integrity: Communication could also contaminate evidence (students saying more than they intended, details being influenced by what staff ask, etc.).
Fast and Simple is Better
Other systems require the student to go through several steps to submit a tip.... starting with downloading and installing an app, , . School text tips does not require the student to download or install anything. Most efficient tip system available, send a simple text message from any cell phone.
Nothing technical is needed from the school or district.
Fast and Simple is Better.
