Anyone -- parents, students, local residents -- can sign up for the alerts via the district's website, so my wife and I, along with both of our spawns, subscribed.
It would seem to be a simple, useful program, but it's not going well. Take, for instance, the four text messages I received this snowy morning.
- 8:18am: All schools are on a two-hour delay.
- 10:11am: A bomb threat has been made at the high school. All students are safe. Police are on the scene.
- 10:37am: All students have been evacuated to the Fieldhouse or Gymnasium. Students cannot be released until Fire Dept and Police search is co
- 10:58am: The police and fire departs have cleared the building. The students are returning to their classes and will proceed with th
Prompt delivery seems to be a problem, too. I learned of this morning's two-hour delay on a TV station's website, but I didn't get the school district's text message until over an hour after classes are scheduled to begin (normally 7:10am, pushed back today to 9:10am). Not helpful.
At least I got all four messages -- our older spawn received the one about the delayed opening, but none of the others showed up. I haven't yet talked to our younger spawn to find out how he fared.
And my wife? She didn't get any of the alerts. She learned of the lockdown by way of a "breaking news" text message from a local TV station.
It's not the first time that one or another (or all) of us hasn't received these alerts, despite having subscribed and re-subscribed.
Technology can be our friend, but the truth is that relying on technology isn't a good idea. An addiction to gadgetry only encourages laziness, dependence and irresponsibility. Still, an alert system, whether it's high-tech or stone-age, has to work.
This one doesn't.
Memo to the district offices: Either fix the thing or pull the plug.
