By Scott Mims

A new communication system is changing the way Chilton County school officials notify students and parents both during emergencies and when a timely announcement needs to be made.

The crisis communication system allows the central office and individual schools to store contact numbers in large databases. A recorded message can then be sent out to all the numbers in a database.

“It’s a good tool for us to stay in contact with our parents, especially in emergency type situations, such as when we have to turn out school for bad weather,” Superintendent Keith Moore said.

For instance, to make an announcement, all Moore has to do is record one phone message. Within a matter of minutes, everyone in the database is automatically notified.

The new system, approved by the board of education in August, replaces the “call tree” network formerly used in schools.

But the beauty of the whole thing is that it can be used for any type notification.

“Individual schools can send out reminders about testing dates, picture days or progress reports,” Moore said.

Teachers can even notify a specific group of students about a field trip.

There is one disadvantage, however — if someone’s number is not on the list, they do not get the message. All the phone numbers are securely stored by Georgia-based company NTEC.

“The system we’re using is only as good as the numbers we have,” Moore said. “If [parents’] numbers are out of service, they need to call their school and update their information.”

Verbena School Principal Larry Raines said he wanted to get the system for his school before the board adopted it.

He was one of the first to use NTEC to notify parents about upcoming progress reports.

The program reported a 60-percent success rate, meaning a corresponding number of persons or voice mail accounts were successfully reached. Raines indicated that’s not bad for the first time.

“It will further open the line of communication between parents and schools,” he said. “That keeps them informed of what’s going on and allows us to work together toward that one goal, which is to educate our kids.”

Moore said the plan costs $1.80 per student, and each individual school pays 80 cents per student. The total estimated cost to the board of education is about $7,500 per year.

By The Clanton Advertiser staff

The swine flu is going around, tornadoes are touching down in Lomax with no warning, and unceasing rains have washed out roads and washed away bridges.

It’s times like these to know school officials have our students’ safety in mind—and to know that those officials can contact parents about what the plan is to keep our children safe.

A telephone communication system adopted by the Chilton County Board of Education will make it easier to do that. The crisis communication system allows the central office and individual schools to store contact numbers in large databases. A recorded message can then be sent out to all the numbers in a database. So, if tornadoes are expected and a particular school decides to close early, all it takes is one recorded message to let every parent of every student know they will need to make arrangements to pick their child up from school.

And the system is versatile. Say a particular teacher needs to let only the parents of his students know about an upcoming field trip. No problem. Picture day just around the corner? It’ll be easy to let everyone know. But there’s one important part of the process: In order for someone to be contacted, the system has to have his or her telephone number.

So, those with children in school need to make sure the school has updated information for them. Parents need to know when an emergency arises.