As I write this, the wounds opened by the tragedy at Virginia Tech are still fresh. Details are still coming out almost hourly describing the horror encountered by the many victims on campus. I was watching news footage on CNN and one of the things that struck me was an interview with two girls who were in class in the same building where the attacks occurred. They expressed frustration with the fact that they had no idea that an attack had occured earlier that morning and that if they had known that they may not have gone to class. After the first attack occurred, the school sent out an email alerting students of the incident even though they knew that most of their off-campus students would not have had a chance to check their e-mail before leaving to come to campus. Although, there is a good chance that this tragedy could not have been avoided, technologies are now available which can quickly and effectively transmit emergency notifications to students through variety of access mechanisms such as text messages sent directly to phones, e-mails, and pre-recorded phone calls.
Our district recently put a service into place called K12Alerts which notifies anyone who signs up for an account of any important district notifications. The notifications can even be customized to be as specific as messages from coaches of different sports teams. This could be useful for something as commonplace as a canceled practice. Over the past year, we have had several bomb threats which have forced both our MS and HS to evacuate the campus. Often times, this type of situation causes parents who cannot reach their students to panic and show up looking for their children. It is situations like this and the tragedy at Virginia Tech which must force educational institutions to evaluate what emergency notification systems are in place. Fortunately, the technology is finally here to help make an impact.
