New school phone system alerts of delays
By Ceri Larson Danes
Staff writer, Tasley Eastern Shore News
Communicating school delays and cancellations is no longer a mystery in Northampton County.
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Like neighboring Accomack County, the school district here recently installed an automated parent-notification system that takes the guesswork out of preparing for school on mornings when weather might be a factor.
In the past, parents had a variety of electronic options — radio, television, the Internet — to choose from when checking for announcements. But as anyone who has ever been subjected to that system knows, the process was imperfect and time-consuming.
Even when it was necessary to close schools early for any reason — in the past, it has been weather, building problems, bomb threats — teachers used their own cell phones to notify parents in addition to the standard alert methods.
Now, parents receive recorded messages on every phone number they’ve listed as a contact. So if school closes early for any reason, calls are made to each phone number on file in the system — home phone, each parent’s cell phone and work phone numbers.
A recent two-hour delay due to snow and freezing conditions in the lower part of the county was the system’s first test, and it passed with high marks, Superintendent Rick Bowmaster said.
“In a matter of just 10 minutes it made over 450 calls to parents,” he said.
Bowmaster can call in to record his message, and the program can be activated from anywhere.
The system, called Global Connect, comes with a free six-month trial and did not require an overhaul of the countywide school phone network.
“We have been able to merge our records with Global Connect to make this happen,” Bowmaster said.
The system indicates if a phone number is disconnected, is a fax machine, of if voicemail kicks in, so it helps keep records up to date, too.
That’s important because parents don’t always remember to notify the school when they move, change jobs or get new mobile phones.
“Even if we are in school and we need to call, instead of teachers using personal cell phones to help make calls, this goes out automatically and is not tying up our phone system,” he said.
The new system also allows the school district to send out pertinent updates on situations like bomb threats.
The calls usually start around 6 a.m. in the case of a morning announcement of a school closing or late opening. Some bus drivers start their routes at 6:15, so the system calls them, too, and as early as possible.
Bowmaster said he has already received a lot of comments about the system from parents who found it helpful in its first real-life run-through.
After the free, six-month trial period, the cost of the system will be $2 per child — enrollment is about 1,800 — and will likely be included in next year’s budget process.
“It is such a minimal cost because it is an immediate safety factor,” he said. “If we are delaying, you get the call. If it is snowing and we close, we can go back and change it. It takes five minutes to go into the computer and change it.”