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WestonAlerts

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1. What is WestonAlerts?

WestonAlerts is the Town of Weston and Weston Public School's official emergency alert and notification system. This system is used to send time-sensitive alerts to the public during emergencies. WestonAlerts is a free* service that allows residents to receive emergency notification via text message, email, and/or voice message.
*message and data rates may apply

2. Why should I sign up for WestonAlerts?

When emergencies happen, Town Officials will use the emergency notification system to send official, real-time alerts to the public with information about potentially life-saving actions or time-sensitive matters.

3. How does it work?

When an emergency occurs that meets the criteria for sending out an alert to the public, Weston's Town Officials will gather the necessary information and send out an alert to the affected area. Alerts can be sent out town-wide to every resident who has opted-in to the system, or to a specific area or neighborhood for more localized events.

4. How much does it cost?

This service is at no cost to the public; however, message and data rates may apply depending on your provider and phone services.

5. Can you guarantee that I will receive notification if I register?

While WestonAlerts is an excellent system, we cannot guarantee that you will receive notification in all cases. Disasters and emergencies are chaotic and unpredictable, and notification is dependent upon external providers such as your wireless carrier or email delivery service that are outside Weston’s control. WestonAlerts will use several means of communications to try to reach residents, in order to improve the likelihood that residents will receive the important information.

6. What happened to Blackboard Connect?

The former emergency notification system was replaced by WestonAlerts over the summer of 2016. The database was transferred over to the new system and landline phone customers' numbers were also. The Smart911 system allows for additional communications, which is why Town Officials strongly encourage all residents to update preferences and contact information by logging into their WestonAlerts accounts.

7. How do I sign up for WestonAlerts?

Signing up for WestonAlerts is easy! Go to www.weston.org/WestonAlerts and register your contact information. You can also access an existing account to update preferences on this page.

8. Who can sign up for WestonAlerts?

This service is available to anyone who lives, works, travels through or visits the Town of Weston. The address can be your home, work or any other location you care about.

9. Will I receive alerts if I don't sign up?

Weston residents who have a landline phone may receive alerts; however, there are strict rules governing when Weston can use this contact information to send out an alert. Only extremely critical alerts containing potentially life-saving information will be sent. In order to ensure that you are able to get all emergency alerts we recommend that you sign-up for WestonAlerts online. If you do not sign up and register your contact information, you will not receive alerts on your preferred devices, and may miss out on receiving important safety information.

10. What type of alerts will I receive?

Emergency alerts are sent 24/7 when there is an immediate threat to life and/or property. In addition to emergency alerts, you can also choose to receive additional community notifications. These include notifications about:
o Severe
o Safety risks
o Health risks
o Transportation disruption
o Test messages

11. Can I call the alert phone number back or reply back to the email?

You are not able to reply to texts or emails sent by WestonAlerts. Voice messages provide a dial-back number to replay an alert message.

12. When will I start receiving alerts?

Once you have signed up online at www.weston.org/Smart911Alerts and confirmed your contact information within the system, you will begin receiving alerts.

13. How do I update or remove my notification preferences and contact information used by WestonAlerts?

Follow the below steps to change your WestonAlerts preferences (for example, to reduce the number of messages of a certain type, or to change the contacts used for each kind of message):
1. Go to the login page at www.weston.org/Smart911Alerts
2. Login using your WestonAlerts username and password (If you’ve forgotten these, follow the instructions on the page under “Forgot Username or Password?”)
3. Once signed in, click the ‘Preferences’ tab at the top
4. Under ‘Notification Preferences’, you can make changes to both the phone numbers and email addresses on which you want to receive WestonAlert messages by clicking or un-clicking the corresponding check boxes
5. You can also choose what alerts you want to receive and the method you wish to receive them by (text, voice, email)

14. How often will I receive alerts?

The frequency for which you receive alerts depends on the addresses you provide and the types of alerts you select to receive, as well as the frequency of actual emergencies. Emergency alerts will only be sent when there is an immediate threat to life and/or property. Community notifications will be sent when the criteria for sending an alert are met.

This system is not intended to communicate Town news or ordinary information. It is intended for emergency and time-sensitive notification only. The Town will only send you alerts about the information you select to receive. To change your alert settings, login to www.weston.org/Smart911Alerts and edit your preferences.

15. How does the WestonAlerts/Smart911 system respond to busy signals or no-answer situations?

If a call completes and is sent to your answering machine or voice mail system, a message is left. If a phone call is not answered or busy, the system redials your number several times.

16. Will my information be disclosed or shared?

No. Your information is private and will not be used or distributed in any manner. The information that you provide is exempt from public disclosure and will be used for emergency purposes only.

17. What precautions are taken to protect personal contact information stored in the WestonAlerts/Smart911 system?

Personal information provided to WestonAlerts is private and only used to notify you for official Town of Weston communications and to support Weston’s emergency services.

Your information is not used for marketing purposes and will not be sold to telemarketers or data-mining organizations. A variety of “opt-in” mechanisms are available to ensure you are getting just the messages you want to receive, delivered via the devices and communications modes that you choose.

WestonAlerts, which is powered by the Smart911 system, utilizes the highest standards in physical and computer security technologies and conducts regular audits to ensure all information is kept secure. Privacy policies are also outlined in the Terms and Conditions you review when you sign up to receive WestonAlerts notifications.