Need School Info? How Do You Want It?

If a snowstorm leads to an early dismissal of Monroe's public schools, all parents can be notified within minutes — and families will have choices over how they want to receive the information. The district scrapped its listserv in favor of a School Messenger system that uses phone numbers, text messages, emails, Facebook and Twitter.

"In a few clicks we can send out messages in all different ways," said Craig Tunks, director of technology for Monroe Public Schools.

Tunks made a presentation to the Board of Education at its Monday night meeting in the Masuk High School media center.

Over the summer, Tunks said letters were sent to parents with contact codes, identification numbers for each child, which could be used to sign up for the emergency and non-emergency notifications. He said the parents also had the options of how they wanted to get information.

"They can say, 'I want emergency phone calls throughout the day, but not a call at 5:30 in the morning when school closes,'" Tunks said, adding some parents may prefer getting the early messages via text message.

Parents were given a 30-day window to register for the notification system. But Board of Education member Lee Crouch, who serves on the board's Communications Committee, said parents who did not register in time can still call their child's school to receive a new letter and contact code.

Tunks said a video tutoral is being made to show parents how to sign up for School Messenger and it will air on Channel 17 when it's ready.

Just as it is with anything new, Tunks said the system needs some fine-tuning. For instance, he said there were numerous cases of parents missing a phone notification and getting a text saying, "You've got a message from Monroe Public Schools." But instead of checking their phone, they thought the text was the actual message.

If parents miss a phone call, all they have to do is hit redial and the School Messenger system will recognize their number and repeat the notification, according to Tunks.

He said more parents are using School Messenger than those who participated in the listserv. "We have a better penetration rate than with the listserv," Tunks said.

Phone calls have a 91 to 96 percent delivery rate and 70-80 percent of parents participate in the email list, according to Tunks. He said the school district may grow the program to also notify parents of their children's attendance.