Call Answering Services

The Vendor is required to provide to deliver comprehensive 24-hour call answering and dispatch services.
- Responsible for answering calls during both regular business hours and after-hours periods, dispatching emergency and non-emergency calls, accurately recording caller information
- Provide uninterrupted call answering and dispatch services, including during extended power outages or emergencies.
- All calls must be answered and forwarded immediately, no matter what category, unless otherwise directed by the board. 
- The following outlines the typical types of calls that will be received through the call center either during the day or after hours. 
- This list includes, but is not limited to:
1. Urgent Response Calls
•    Death of a student during the school day
•    Death or critical injury of a staff member during the day
•    Lockdown/Hold and Secure (e.g. active shooter, intruder at site, Police requested hold and secure, intruder or unwelcome visitor on-site, etc.)
•    Shelter-In-Place/Environmental Emergency
•    Critical Infrastructure failure (e.g., evacuation, water main or sewage break, extended power outage)
•    School closure due to a significant event affecting occupancy
•    Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Skills and Training Development (MLITSD) on Site
•    Significant student or staff incident (medical, emergency services called)
•    Fire (e.g. alarm activation, or fire reported)
•    Threats of violence (e.g., bomb threat, social media threat)
•    Evacuation of site
•    Tornadoes
•    Gas Leak/Smell
•    Flooding (e.g. indoor and outdoor)
2. Emergency Maintenance/Facility-Related (includes After Hours Calls)
•    Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Alarm
•    Emergency Services: Fire, Police, Ambulance, Flood, Death in a unit,
•    Lockouts
•    Security panel alarms (AC Failure, Battery Tamper, No Phone Line, Heat Loss, etc.)
•    Broken window or door that cannot lock
•    Loss of heat, electricity, or water (unit-specific)
•    Sewer blockage or plumbing leak
•    Exposed electrical wires
•    No water service
•    Emergency repairs (water/flood/sanitary breaks)
•    Elevator entrapment/Elevator malfunction
•    Emergency water shut off
3. Non-Urgent Facility-Related Calls
•    Non-urgent calls (e.g., repeated fire panel alarms, scheduled maintenance events, etc.) may be held for office staff for the next business day.
•    Call center dispatchers must be informed of this process.
•    Pre-set recordings/messages may be used.
•    These calls must still appear in the daily report, labeled as “saved for office” or similar.
4. Work Alone/Home Safe Calls
•    Support work-alone/home-safe procedures for staff working after regular hours.
•    Use Board-provided questions for initiating or updating staff status.
•    Staff safety is paramount when attending after-hours callbacks.
- Service Hours
•    Regular Business Hours: 6:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m., Monday to Friday (EST)
•    After-Hours Coverage: 6:30 p.m. – 6:30 a.m., Monday to Friday; 24-hour coverage on weekends and statutory holidays, or as otherwise requested by the board.
•    The board reserves the right to adjust the hours of operation for after-hours answering service. For planned adjustments, 48 hours’ notice will be provided when possible. Unplanned situations will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
- The Account Manager shall be responsive to both email and phone communications. A supervisor or delegate with full authority to modify the board account must be available 24/7/365 to support emergency events.
- Dispatch emergency calls immediately to the appropriate on-call personnel with appropriate details to enable timely and effective response.