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Schools

Back to school: Alerts keep parents posted

Phone and e-mail messages notify Mom or Dad almost instantly at home, at work or on the go.

By TERRI BRYCE REEVES, Times Staff Writer
Published August 5, 2007

In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and hurricanes, school systems realize that having the latest technology to communicate with parents and staff members is essential.

And today's gadgetry can keep parents informed of emergencies, possible dangers - and even something as benign as career day.

Pinellas and Hillsborough public school systems both have parental notification systems, but with different monikers: Connect-ED for Pinellas and IRIS in Hillsborough. The systems do essentially the same thing: deliver phone or e-mail messages almost instantly to the families of students at home, work, on their hip or in their purse.

In schools with large Hispanic populations, the notifications may be dispatched in Spanish.

The messages are recorded, sent and tracked for bad numbers; they can go countrywide or be specific to a school or bus route.

"They parents love it," said Andrea Zahn, a spokeswoman for the Pinellas County School District. "It's a wonderful way to strengthen the home and school partnerships."

Phone numbers and e-mail addresses are entered into a database at the time of school registration. It is the parents' responsibility to keep the school system informed of changes, officials said.

Last year, about 11,000 different messages were generated through Pinellas' Connect-ED system.

"About 80 percent were for community outreach," Zahn said, explaining that the designation is for routine calls such as testing information, early releases and important reminders. These are delivered to each contact's primary and optional additional phone number, she said. There is also an e-mail feature available.

The balance of calls or e-mails were for attendance notifications (used when a student is absent), surveys, and emergencies such as school lock-downs, campus disturbances or weather closings. Emergency messages can be delivered to a maximum of six phone numbers per household.

The school district serves about 109,000 students; the cost for Connect-ED is about $3 per student, Zahn said.

In April, the Hillsborough County School District launched its Immediate Response Information System (IRIS). It has been used about 600 times since; the school system serves about 192,000 students.

The county has received state funding for the program, which has an estimated value of about $500,000 a year, said Hillsborough schools spokesman Steve Hegarty.

The IRIS system uses color codes with red alerts for emergencies, orange alerts for priority notifications and yellow alerts for routine messages.

"The vast majority are yellow," Hegarty said.

Routine messages typically are delivered only to home phones or e-mail addresses. Red alerts, on the other hand, are dispatched to e-mail addresses and up to three phones per family.

Sometimes the system is used to dispel faulty information.

"Incredibly, it has been used for rumor control," Hegarty said.

Terri Bryce Reeves can be reached at treeves@tampabay.rr.com

[Last modified August 4, 2007, 22:00:36]