District turns to radio for announcements
JANESVILLE — The Janesville School District communicates announcements—closings, delays and other notifications—through the local radio station WCLO.
But with the help of a $250,000 federal grant to evaluate and update its safety plans, the district could explore implementing a different method of communicating such announcements, said Sheryl Miller, district information specialist.
A number of parents criticized the district for not notifying them of a Monday afternoon lockdown at Marshall Middle School and Monroe Middle School.
Do the Janesville schools need a different way to communicate with parents?
The Milton School District subscribes to the telephone calling program SchoolMessenger, which it used for the first time Oct. 17, after a threatening note with the word "bomb" was found the day before in a girls' bathroom at Milton High School.
Superintendent Bernie Nikolay said the principal recorded a message that explained the situation and informed parents that students would be searched when they arrived at school that morning.
"At 6:15 (a.m.) it mass dialed and within 15 minutes, everybody was called," he said.
Nikolay said the notification helped the search run smoothly.
"Of all the things we did, that was the most helpful," he said.
Miller said the Janesville School District has talked "many times" about implementing a similar mass communication system.
Oct 29, 2008 at 8:56 p.m.
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Git-r-done and up and running Jville School District! It can't cost such an exorberant amount that you can't afford it! After all, smaller school districts already have it!
Oct 29, 2008 at 6:57 p.m.
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Fort Atkinson just recently got AlertNow. So far all we have done is test messages but its quick and easy to send them out.
Oct 29, 2008 at 4:14 p.m.
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I'm so glad I'm in this school district.
Oct 29, 2008 at 9:10 a.m.
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I trust the schools and the PD to protect my child, but I would still like a call to let me know what is going on. It is not feasible for most parents to listen to the local radio stations the entire school day for lockdowns. I'm sure a form will go out and it will ask what number you would like the system to call. Most people have cell phones on them 24/7. Parents are already listening to radios or watching Madison news stations in the morning before school on days we have snowstorms so they will know about weather delays or closings, but this will have a dramatic effect during school hours. These calls probably will not reach 100% of the parents but 70% or 80% is better than none. If the message says to NOT go to the school until further notice, I think most people will obey that. I work for a company that uses mass calling. It is very effective. It even keeps track of unanswered calls and will keep trying to call that number for a set amount of time (reaching voice mail counts as an answered call). This is the 21st century. Let's act like it.
Oct 28, 2008 at 3:34 p.m.
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All well and good, but what number is it going to call? If it calls the home phone, and a parent is sitting in the parking lot at a school waiting for their child, like what happened yesterday, that parent isn't going to get that message. Just trust the schools and the police. The schools were doing what they were told and the students were taken care of.
Oct 28, 2008 at 2:12 p.m.
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Turner School District has something like this. It calls for snow days, delays and once when they did emergency drills.
Oct 28, 2008 at 1:09 p.m.
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It's a no-brainer. Get it up and running.
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