Bark Announces Family Alerts Dashboard for Monitoring Student Accounts
Free for all K-12 schools in the U.S., Bark's award-winning service now allows parents and guardians to receive alerts about potentially harmful activity -- including alerts that happen outside of school hours and during holidays -- on their child's school-issued accounts through its new Family Alerts Dashboard feature.
ATLANTA, Nov. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Bark, the award-winning service that helps keep children safe online and in real life, is proud to announce its all-new Family Alerts Dashboard. Schools using Bark will now have the option of enlisting the support of parents and guardians to monitor school-issued accounts.
"Given the growing number of school shootings, teen suicides, and occurrences of cyberbullying, we aim to equip parents and schools with the tools they need to better protect children, both at home and at school," said Brian Bason, Bark CEO. "The new Family Alerts feature allows parents to reinforce the efforts of hardworking school administration, providing a community approach to child safety."
Bark for Schools currently covers more than 2 million students across 700 districts in the U.S. Through the Family Alert Dashboard, schools can now choose to alert parents and guardians any time Bark detects concerning activity on their child's school email or device. Bark uses advanced machine learning to identify issues, then notifies parents and school administrators of potential threats like cyberbullying, internet predators, depression, suicidal thoughts, and sexting.
"In addition to talking to kids in an age-appropriate manner about risks and dangers, we need to leverage technology to help search for and flag potential problems," said Rania Mankarious, CEO of Crime Stoppers Houston. "Through Bark's innovative technology, dangerous activities can be stopped before they turn deadly or life-threatening. In today's world, there's no way around it — it's an absolute must-have service."
Bark's coverage of technology used by students at school combined with personal devices and accounts used at home helps provide communities with comprehensive protection. Launched in 2015, Bark's flagship product helps parents monitor their kids' personal social media, email, and text message accounts for $9/month. Following the tragic shooting in Parkland, Fla., Bark released its Bark for Schools product for free to any K-12 school in the U.S.
"We're proud to help protect students' school accounts at no cost, both during and after school. Our powerful offering proactively alerts school administrators to issues detected in school-issued student email, chat, documents, and cloud storage," said Ross Paterson, Chief Customer Officer at Bark. "Bark's capabilities have proven to be instrumental in protecting students."
To date, Bark has analyzed over 1 billion messages across texts, email, and social media. More than 30 parents have reached out to say that Bark saved their child's life, and Bark has helped thwart 16 school shooting and bomb threats.
"Bark for Schools is the real deal," said Thad Schulz, Technology Coordinator of Sebeka Public School. "Within a few days, Bark found multiple issues that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. When an issue arose that could have been life-threatening for one of our students, a Bark team member called our school to help us take action."
Schools can sign up year-round, and are encouraged to enable the Family Alerts Dashboard, especially in time for the holiday season when students might be accessing their school-issued accounts from home. For more information on Bark for Schools, and to opt in to the Family Alerts Dashboard, visit http://www.bark.us/schools.
About Bark
Bark is a digital safety solution endorsed by schools, parents, and children alike for its ability to identify threats and provide proactive recommendations. Created in collaboration with child psychologists, youth advisors, digital media experts, and law enforcement. Bark uses machine-learning to monitor texts, email, YouTube, and 24+ social media platforms for potential safety concerns, so parents can save time and gain peace of mind. For more information, visit http://www.bark.us or follow Bark on Twitter @JoinBark.
SOURCE Bark
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