Beach alert system will get messages to parents, teachers

VIRGINIA BEACH

The next time the city is blanketed with snow, parents and teachers could get an automated phone call or an e-mail alerting them that the public school system is closed.

Later this month, 10 Beach schools will launch the division's new rapid alert system, allowing emergency voice and text messages - such as school closings - to be disseminated to thousands of people within minutes.

"In any emergency, communication is always a challenge," said Dick Ponti, the division's director of safe schools and risk management. "This will provide us a means of communicating directly to parents, and it allows you to get a consistent message out there that's accurate."

The school system will spend about $49,000 to pilot the service, testing it first at Birdneck, Creeds, Corporate Landing, John B. Dey, Shelton Park and Strawbridge elementary schools. It will also be tested at Corporate Landing and Lynnhaven middle schools and at Bayside and Salem high schools.

The schools were selected partly based on student population size and diversity, said Kathy O'Hara, a school division spokeswoman. All 88 schools should be online with the system by the fall, at a cost of about $149,000 annually.

Since Hurricane Katrina and the shootings at Virginia Tech, more public school systems across the country are using similar emergency alert services, O'Hara said.

That's good news to Gloria Woods, whose son, David, is a senior at Salem High. Traditional communication, such as school letters or the "phone tree" system, doesn't guarantee that parents get information in a timely manner, she said.

"I will be more assured that an emergency is being handled," Woods said of the alert system. "I think it could keep parents from panicking."

Schools will eventually be able to use the service as an "outreach tool," O'Hara said, helping promote meetings and events.

Parents will be able to choose how they receive the messages, including via cell phone and e-mail.

Susan E. White, (757) 222-5114, susan.white@pilotonline.com