Amherst Schools Alert System

A couple of years ago, the Amherst schools purchased an alert system. With the alert system, evil robots dial the phone numbers of parents to communicate recorded messages by school administrators. I have told my elected representative that everyone involved in that decision should have their fingers slammed in a door.

You would think an "alert system" is to alert people about something important. Unfortunately, the school system seems to think that routine announcements about meetings merit using the alert system. This morning, though, takes the cake. This morning, I received a phone call while in the shower. The reason?

This is a message from Superintendent of Schools, Maria Geryk, to inform you that there was an extensive power outage this morning at the high school. Utility crews worked to repair this situation and classes are continuing as scheduled. Please check the district website, www.arps.org for periodic updates throughout the morning. Thank you.

That's why you interrupted my shower? Because classes are continuing as scheduled? How about an alert because the cafeteria food tastes bad? Or because the pollen count is high? I sent the following message to them.

I would like to strenuously object to the school using the telephone alert system to contact parents regarding routine meetings or (as this morning) to tell us that "classes are continuing as scheduled". The alert system should only be used when there is genuinely important information to convey: ie, that school is closed, classes are NOT continuing as scheduled, or if there is some genuine crisis or emergency to which parents should respond. For any other information, email is more than sufficient. Please stop calling me.