Needing to contact parents quickly is part of operating a school district today. No longer are parents needing to be alerted to inclement weather alone; unfortunate incidents of shootings, bomb threats, and other violence mean that using a better alert system than in time's past is imperative. A voice messaging system is something that many schools use today and with good reason.
If you don't yet use a voice messaging system for your district, it's good to think seriously about the benefits of such a system. These are used for more than just disasters and inclement weather but can also give parents information about upcoming events to keep their calendars accurate. They can get this information quickly and completely and using this type of system takes the pressure of teachers and clerical staff in keeping parents updated as well. You can also ensure that parents are notified of changes in schedules and alerts when you use an automated voice messaging system for your district.
Your first concern may be how a voice messaging system works. You use a service in which you enter data for alerts, and this will send out that data through different means and forms. This may be an email or a text message; parents will subscribe to that system in the manner they prefer. This means that your voice messaging system will not bother or "spam" parents who choose not to have these alerts sent to them and they choose the method that best suits their needs.
One reason that such an automated voice messaging system is more successful than standard types of alerts that are sent over the news is that you can control the information you send. When you submit school closings to news media agencies, they may have just a brief sentence or two about that closing, and rarely will they broadcast your events and such things. Using a voice messaging system means that you can add in information about where to pick up children and why the school is closing, or information about an alert being rescinded. More control means more effective alerts for everyone.
Typically a voice messaging system can also be used just for certain groups of students; before you send out the alert, you can choose if it applies to just certain grades or certain schools in the district, or for the entire district itself. This means there is less work for your clerical staff in choosing the best way to alert parents, not having to pick and choose which ones need particular alerts.
The affordability of a voice messaging system should be checked against the man hours it takes for staff to handle such alerts and messages. It's also good to consider the expense of keeping schools open for the safety of certain children that have not been picked up because their parents have not been alerted. This makes a voice messaging system a necessary option for any school or district.
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