School district adopts new notification system

The Bigfork School District now has a

system to be able to notify parents and community members in the

case of an emergency, or just a needed reminder.

The district recently adopted the

AlertNow Notification System, which will allow individuals to sign

up to receive telephone and e-mail notifications with school

information. Letters were sent home to parents on Thursday to

inform them about the service.

“The first and most important reason

we’re doing this is because it’s a great way to communicate with

parents,” Superintendent Cynthia Clary said.

Clary noted that sometimes information

is sent home with students that is not received by parents. This

way assures that those families are reached with important news and

information, she said, especially in an emergency.

The system allows for notification by

voice, e-mail and text. Another benefit of the system, Clary said,

is that different subdirectories can be created by grade level,

extracurricular activity or residential areas that students live so

that information important to specific groups can get out to those

who need it. For example, parents could be alerted when students on

a return trip from an athletic event will arrive late or if a

specific bus route wasn’t able to run that morning.

Clary said she is familiar with this

system, having used it at Van Vleck Independent School District in

Texas, where she was superintendent prior to taking the position in

Bigfork this year.

The total cost of the system is a bit

less than $2,400 and was split between the high school and

elementary school districts’ general funds. Bigfork is the 10th

school district in the Valley to adopt the system.

The system is able to immediately

create reports, letting school officials know who was successfully

contacted.

“It gives us lots of really good

information,” Clary said. “We know within minutes if the phone was

answered by a human or voice mail and how many times it took.”

The system will continue to call until

it gets a pick up or a voice mail, so Clary encourages parents to

give multiple numbers or to make sure the number they have has an

answering machine. The caller ID will display the district’s main

number, 837-7400, when the system is calling with a general

announcement and 411 if it’s a dire emergency.

District officials hoped to have

contact information in by Monday, but additional information will

still be taken. Clary said the district plans to run a test this

week with a Thanksgiving message to make sure it works and gets out

to all of those who signed up.

Those who would like to sign up for

notifications through the AlertNow system, can call the district

office at 837-7400.