Oglesby: Holy Family Contracts with Phone Service

Holy Family Catholic School will implement GroupCast's SchoolReach system, a mechanism for communication between school officials and parents for emergency purposes and general announcements.

SchoolReach allows a school official, such as the principal, to record a brief message, which will be sent to a list of parents simultaneously. Once the message is recorded, it only takes a few minutes to distribute to parents. The system then generates a report that tells officials which parents answered, when an answering machine picked up and whether those who answered listened to the whole message.

"I am impressed that the SchoolReach system allows me the opportunity to reach all of our families within minutes," Principal Jyll Jasiek said in a press release. "It is a wonderful program which will facilitate the swift transmission of information in the instance of an emergency or for any important announcements regarding our school."

This system also allows officials to send messages to the entire student body or a select group affected by the announcement, such as a class or sports team. It allows officials to call parents at work, home or even on their cell phones, if they prefer.