WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. June 5, 2003: The City School District test of its “Emergency Broadcast System”, actually the PACE Calling System was transmitted by telephone flawlessly to WPCNR Headquarters this morning at 10 A.M.
The system worked. Parents of White Plains Middle School students only who did not receive this recorded phone call from their school, Highlands or Eastview, should contact the school district to update their Emergency Contact Information, because it will mean the school district does not have a way to contact you regarding emergency or other school announcements of significance. The PACE Calling System is envisioned by Superintendent Timothy Connors as being a means of contacting parents promptly about positive events, as well as emergencies.
If you are a parent or guardian of a child in the White Plains Middle School, and do not receive this call, the School District requests you contact the Student Information Center at 422-2040.
What the Calling System did:
At 10 A.M., WPCNR answered the phone, and the message began with these words: “This is Joseph Cloherty, Principal of Eastview School,” followed by a repeat of his opening message in Spanish.
Right away the message sounded authoritative. Cloherty then returned to say this was a test of a Calling System so that the district make sure they have the correct contact information for your family. This was again repeated in Spanish.
The only quibble I had with the message was it did not give a number to call in case this message is received but no longer going to the correct telephone numbers. It is also not clear whether the message goes to all numbers parents list. WPCNR assumes it does, a must in the case of two-parents-working families.
What struck me about the message was the technological clarity and the message customized to my child’s school, complete with an option to hear the message again at the end of the recorded announcement. This was an excellent feature.
The Calling System provides an ability for the schools to contact parents quickly and apparently goes out to parents of a specific school, with the voices of school-familiar personnel delivering the message, in this case, the Principal.
The system, in this reporter’s opinion, is so reasonable and simple one wonders why this was not done long before June, 2003. Outcall technology has been available for twenty-five years.
The PACE Calling System has many possibilities: Announcing snow days, avoiding the tedious listening to roll calls on radio stations; announcing postponement of weather-related events; announcing time changes. Plans for circumstances under which the system will be used have yet to be formed, but the test appears to be a success at least at this location.