Department of Administrative Services
Press Release
For Immediate Release |
For More Information: |
October 11 , 2007 |
Laura Riordan, 515-242-5038 |
State Launches New Notification System for Schools, Parents
The Iowa Department of Administrative Services introduces a free program that helps parents and schools when classes are cancelled
DES MOINES — A new computer application launched by the Iowa Department of Administrative Services (DAS) will immediately notify parents via e-mail if their child’s school is cancelling classes due to bad weather or other non-weather-related circumstances.
The program, Iowa School Alerts (https://schoolalerts.iowa.gov), can also be used to notify school staff members, day care providers, media outlets, and any other interested persons who sign up, and is offered free of charge.
Iowa School Alerts allows school superintendents or their designee to log in to the secure website from any computer with an internet connection and create one message that is then instantly sent to everyone who has signed up to receive notices for that school. Messages are tagged by both district and building, so in districts with multiple buildings parents can, for example, choose to only watch their child’s building, and not receive messages that only affect other buildings. E-mail notifications can be sent to e-mail inboxes and e-mail-enabled cell phones and PDAs.
Iowa School Alerts was developed by employees of the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to solve a number of problems that occur when schools must cancel classes.
“Many of us are parents and we were familiar with having to stick by the TV or radio when the weather was bad, to see if our child’s school was going to close,” said Darrell Fremont, information technology project manager at DAS. “When you’re at work it’s harder because then you have to keep checking websites, or find someone with a radio – or you may not even realize the weather’s bad enough to cancel classes.”
With that dilemma in mind, IT staff members visited with some school superintendents for their perspective. During those conversations they uncovered another, entirely different problem when it comes to cancelling school.
“Call lists. We talked to superintendents who had pages of names they had to call whenever school had to be cancelled – media outlets, staff members, bus drivers, you name it,” said Mark Uhrin, DAS administrator of application and e-government services. “Not only is that a hassle for them, but it can also be a liability. If you can’t get through to a TV station the first time – because they’re so busy fielding other calls – then your announcement doesn’t get on that station right away, and so parents may not get word right away. It can really be a problem.”
Iowa School Alerts solves that problem for schools and provides parents and guardians peace-of-mind with its free, easy notification system.
There is no charge to schools, the media, parents or other users to take advantage of the Iowa School Alerts system, though users should check with their wireless service provider to see if there is a fee for receiving e-mails on their cell phones or PDAs. The development of this program was funded by the IOWAccess initiative, which seeks to bring more e-government services to the citizens of Iowa. The IOWAccess Revolving Fund is funded by sales of driver’s license records and other online sales. The money in this fund is used to support e-government initiatives and provide technology project development and start-up funds.
Those interested in signing up for Iowa School Alerts or learning more about the program should go to https://schoolalerts.iowa.gov. If you don’t see your school district on the list, please contact them and encourage them to become a participant – it’s free and easy for them as well!
About the Iowa Department of Administrative Services (DAS)
DAS was created July 1, 2003, as a way to manage and coordinate the major resources of state government; its mission is to provide high quality, affordable infrastructure products and services to Iowa state government customers in a manner that empowers them to provide better service to the citizens of Iowa and support the State of Iowa in achieving economic growth. http://das.iowa.gov/
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