Handling your school closings is much more complicated today than ever before. In times past, the only reason for a school to close would be inclement weather, and other emergencies were few and far between. Today, threats of violence or bomb scares and other such catastrophes mean more schools being closed as precautionary measures than ever before.
This also means that superintendents and other officials have the responsibility of getting out notices regarding school closings to all parents, often even in the middle of the day. Having parents know that the school is being closed and knowing other information that's vital for their family's safety, such as a different location at which they can pick up their children, is vital. Trying to reach all the parents for the children in your district can be an impossible task as many households today have both parents working outside the home, so announcing school closings over the midday news is ineffective.
Today there are automated systems that will announce school closings and other such important information through a wide range of channels that will reach parents. They may subscribe to this system to get an email or text alert so that they're notified immediately in case of an emergency. Having this type of automated school closings alert system can mean better organization and better care for the children in your charge, since more parents will arrive in a timely manner to take them home.
An automated school closings alert system also means being able to inform parents if the alert is being rescinded. In some cases a fire drill or threat of inclement weather or things like a gun scare or bomb scare can change very quickly, and the alert for a closing also needs to be rescinded. Parents appreciate getting this information quickly because they may reschedule their entire day in response to school closings, and this may mean missed appointments at the office or the need for a ride to the child's school, and so on.
Very often automated systems for school closings can also offer other services and alerts. This can mean alerting parents to various functions for the school such as conferences, holidays, half days, and so on. Because parents today are often juggling their professional schedules as well as those of their children, they may appreciate these electronic reminders that might go right into their calendaring system. Because parents will subscribe to these systems the way they choose, you know that your automated school closings announcements will be welcomed and not a bother to them.
The cost of an automated school closings announcement system is often more affordable for a district than trying to handle these announcements on your own. Because they're so much more effective and efficient, this can mean cost savings in the time it would take to handle them with just a news service. Districts today would do well to consider automated school closings announcements because of those reasons.
