New phone service improves District 168

West Frankfort, Ill. -

Tue Oct 07, 2008, 12:02 PM CDT

As promised, the local school district took a leap into the 21st century by completing the addition of a new phone service. It will revolutionize communications between the schools and parents, guardians and all other interested parties.

With the simple click of a computer mouse, FCUD No. 168 launched its new SchoolReach Phone System for the first time on October 2. It is an instant notification system that simultaneously sends out telephone messages to parents in more than 1900 district homes in a matter of minutes.

In a news release to the Daily American, District 168 Superintendent Greg Goins says the new system will be used for everything from emergency notification and school closings to general announcements.

"I'm very excited about this system," said Goins. "As a district, our goal is always to improve communication with parents and I think this new technology will provide our school community with timely and up-to-date information." With a new system in place Goins says he also learned a valuable lesson about patience and good humor, as the first "test call" yielded an unexpected response.

"We sent the first message out last week and the district and school offices were hit pretty hard with return phone calls from people wanting information," said Goins. "I guess that was in response to seeing the school number on the caller I.D., but I really want to encourage parents to listen to the message in its entirety and resist the urge to make call backs to the offices. This system is designed to give you information."

Goins says the next step is to expand this program from a district level to a more personalized format within the four attendance centers at Denning Elementary, Frankfort Intermediate, Central Junior High, and Frankfort Community High School.

"District information is vital and you can expect calls from my office," said Goins. "But in the next few weeks, you'll also get calls from the principals at the individual schools that are specific to announcements and information to your child's school."

Goins says parents can anticipate the second call to be delivered late Wednesday afternoon to announce Parent-Teacher Conferences on Thursday, October 9th from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. School will not be is session. Parents can call their child's school office to receive more information about the system or request a change to the primary phone number.