On way over to Rivier this morning it occurred to me that technology plays a huge role in how the weather and related school decisions have changed over time. When I first started as a principal, it was my responsibility to make "phone-tree" calls to my teachers. From there I progressed to Assistant Superintendent, where my responsibilities shifted to making telephone calls, not only to staff, but to TV and radio stations passing along our decisions to the public. Oftentimes, the TV lines and radio stations were simply too busy to take the volume of calls and the window of opportunity to notify folks diminished with each busy signal. TV and radio stations then evolved into push-button options, whereby, with a special code could be entered automatically triggering a notice on the radio or TV. From there we have evolved into a technology based system that allows access to all parents via emergency notification systems that can access multiple phone (including cell) numbers notifiying parents, teacher, school board members, and administrators of a closing, delay, emergency, dismissal, lockdown, etc. These technologies, while not universally accepted by parents, who dislike being called early in the AM about a school closing, are slowing becoming THE way to communicate with our various constituencies. Yes, we have evolved from the personal conversation "Hey, John, no school today, go back to bed!" to a voice activated automated message. Clearly, the new technology has provided a more instant access with less stress, and wear and tear on administrators.
In this instance, I would welcome the technology...unfortunately, I was still working with the "This is John calling!" system.
Dr. Moody
I love receiving a phone call from the automated system when school is off or delayed. Not sure how we would implemenet technology in Phys ed. without taking away activity time but I am open to suggestions. How do you get students active on a snow day but know that they did it?
ReplyDeleteI find the early morning phone call very convenient. Before this, we always had a phone chain and fortunately for me, it never broke done and I did know there was no school. I loved the phone call when my children were home, and knew that they did not have school without watching tv to find out. Some teachers have commented that they would like a text message or an email as opposed to the phone call.
ReplyDeleteamazing revelations here....
ReplyDeleteA text would be even better then you wouldn't have to get up and answer the phone!!
ReplyDeleteWe still use a phone tree, and thankfully, it has always worked for me, too. Recently, one of our administrators started sending a text to teachers that would prefer that. She is also responsible for the Twitter account which she tweets information about the school closings. I LOVE it!
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