Hi,

I appreciate early notification when school is closed. But 5:00 AM???? We got a total of 4 calls from D41. The first one was at 5:00 AM from a toll-free number, and there was nobody on the line when I answered. Nice. A few minutes later, we got the automated system call, followed by a second one. And then, just for good measure....yet another hang up from the 800 number.

Now it's not even the crack of dawn and both kids are wide awake. Thanks, D41. Can't wait to stay home all day with kids who are up almost 2 hours earlier than usual. FUN FUN FUN!

I agree. Glenbard District 87's call did not come until 6:00 a.m., in my opinion a much more reasonable time than 5:00 a.m.

It baffles me that efficiency in District 41 means overkill.

Each family gets a phone call in an efficient world. Not D41. Call every child, no matter that the system repeats the same phone calls. Thank God we only have 2.

I think parents should have a true sense of comedy. The kids would not find out about a snow day until 7:55, when their friends don't show up at the bus stop. I myself would never....

I agree Ron. Whatever happened to breathlessly waiting for the scroll to come across the bottom of the Ray Rayner show. Also, nothing like standing out at the bus stop and no bus shows up.

Back in the olden days, we'd huddle around the radio waiting for the school closings - and I am pretty sure we had to have a lot more snow than is out there this morning. Today, the oldest didn't even get out of bed - but simply reached for his iphone, went to West's web site for the announcement, then rolled back over and to sleep. Times have changed.

To the best of my knowledge, we received zero.

Lombard 44 called the house at 6:00AM, recorded by the supt.....my husband got 2 calls on his cell phone, 1 automated and one recorded from the supt. I got another one at home at 6:15 that was automated. I got to work and had two more messages. Now that's what I call service and I only have 1 kid in that district. 87 on the other hand never calls early enough...but my sister teaches there and called at 5:30AM to let us know she got the call. Then about 6:30 the automated call came through at home. All in all I can say they had the event covered very well.

The phone started ringing at 5:30 and we received 4 calls and we have 3 kids in District 41. And then the Kindergarten calling tree called at 6.
I have to agree with the rest of you, it was a bit of an overkill.

At least I earned a few brownie points with my daughter, I went in and turned her alarm off. Unlike Ron Kas who just lets his kids wait all day for the bus

I was a little tired after the early calls, but I guess if I had to make arrangements for the kids for the day, I'd have appreciated the extra time.

So, I went in to tell the kids right away. I quietly told them to go back to sleep, because it was a snow day. My daughter rolled over and went back to sleep. My son chanted, "SNOW DAY! SNOW DAY! SNOW DAY!" and bounced off his walls before heading right downstairs to the computer and game system. It's o.k. He's heading out to shovel now, so payback rocks!

Both my wife's cell phone and mine got 4 calls each. We also got 2 each on our land line from D87 and D89. I think it might be possible that you have to talk before they will play the message. Also I think if they get no answer (as on the cell phones) they keep trying.

I actually prefer that they over-communicate than under. And earlier than later. I don't think 5:30 is unreasonable - what if you leave for work by 6:00?

quote:

Originally posted by SoEllynGuy:

I don't think 5:30 is unreasonable - what if you leave for work by 6:00?

Better you than me.

Hmmmmm.....got only one call from D41 (have only one kid in it now) but got two calls from Glenbard. The D41 was about 5:30am and the first GBW call was about 6am - when I picked up that one, it disconnected and I got no message. We have caller ID so I saw it was the Glenbard Twnshp number. Went to the computer to be sure and told my daughter to go back to bed. Then, I got another call by 6:15 with the recorded message. If I wasn't off this year, I would have gotten a call from my school so I guess, all in all, it's about the usual for us! Guess I'll consider myself lucky.

I wasn't at all suprised about the closing. Timing is everything. If the snow would have ended by 4 or 5am, the schools would have been open - or at least late start. But it didn't really stop snowing until 10am. I didn't go out on the roads until after 11:30 (with a four-wheel drive) and the major ones were in good shape. But having kids walk to school at 7, 8 or 9 am would have been dangerous. Good call on the closing, IMO.

Does anyone know what it costs to do a round of automated calls?

Great point M. Who needs the call anyways, they should just post the decision on their website, for those who don't have web access (aboout 1/10 of 1% these days) they could call into a phone number. Receiving a call(or several) notifiy of a snow day is overkill.

Even better than checking the school web site, is www.emergencyclosings.com. It lists all area school/after school activities/business closed or starting late.

I can't see everyones avatars' on this thread. Am I the only one?

quote:

Originally posted by Floyd:
I can't see everyones avatars' on this thread. Am I the only one?

EEK! I feel naked!

Nope. Can't see them either.

I doubt there was any cost for the phone calls - apart from whatever the phone company charges for phone calls. Automated calling is almost always just one perk of a student management system...which does lots and lots of things from keeping records on attendance, schedules, demographics, etc....

And I don't see the avatars either.

Ok....one 4 year old in preschool for crying out loud...District 89...

3 calls at 5:18 5:20, 5:40 to the home number
3 calls at around the same time to my cell
3 calls around the same time to my husbands cell.


I was not disturbed at all...Why? Only one phone in the house has the ringer on and it sure isn't in my room and my cell gets turned to vibrate at night.I am sure that will all change when the child gets older.