School Communications Information

School-Home Communications Link

There are times during the school year when the Superintendent of Schools must communicate important information to District 113A families in a timely manner. Sometimes, a letter to the home is the most effective format for that communication. During some emergency situations, a telephone call to your home is the most appropriate means of communicating important information to parents. While the District 113A PTA may use established room parent calling trees to inform parents regarding non-emergency information, District 113A is pleased to report that it has another tool that can be used to communicate emergency information to parents.

The tool is an emergency call-out system that allows the Superintendent to authorize a telephone call to parents in our District. Depending upon the emergency situation, the Superintendent may elect to send a message to the parents of one school or to the parents of all District 113A students. For example, if one of our schools has a heating problem, the Superintendent may inform parents of students in that particular school that the students will be transported to other District 113A schools for the day. In the case of a snow emergency, however, the Superintendent would send a message to all District 113A homes.

This tool offers an effective means to communicate vital information to parents in a very short amount of time. Of course, as with any technology tool, there are factors that influence the effectiveness of the tool for particular families. Once the Superintendent activates the call-out system, calls to your home will be attempted. If the system encounters a person when your home phone is answered, the message will play through. If the system encounters an answering machine or voice mail, the message will be left according to the time allotment programmed into your answering mechanism. We will make every effort to provide the most critical information during the first thirty seconds of the message so that the main idea of the message will be delivered within the minimum time allotment offered by some answering machines.

Please be advised that the emergency call-out system message will not go through if your telephone is programmed with any type of privacy management system. Also, please keep in mind that a child answering the telephone may not understand the nature of the call and may not notify a parent in time to hear the message. However, even with these minor limitations, this emergency call-out system offers the best opportunity for District 113A to communicate accurate and important information to families in a timely manner. In most cases, a copy of the message that was sent through the call-out system can be accessed from the District’s main telephone line: 257-2286, press “7”