Area School Closings Aided by SchoolReach – 300,000 calls in 48 hours

ST. LOUIS (December 5, 2006) - Parents of St. Louis area and other Midwestern cities woke up to a phone call their kids wanted to receive and the parents didn't - a school snow closing announcement delivered by SchoolReach, the education service division of St. Louis based GroupCast messaging.

Over a 48 hour period beginning last Thursday morning at 4:45 AM, SchoolReach placed over 300,000 calls notifying parents that school was canceled, delayed or that their children would be dismissed early.

"Our first snow closing broadcast was kicked off at 4:45 AM on Thursday morning for 526 calls," said Kyle Palacios, Director Client Services, for GroupCast Messaging. "The call was completed in less than 5 minutes."

A tale of two schools:
Due to the timing of the storm, many schools decided to dismiss early after the children had already arrived for the day. Lynn Potts, whose child attends Green Trails School in the Parkway School District and is not always accessible, received a call around 9 AM simultaneously on her home, work and on cell phone numbers.

"I think every school should have this; I'm busy during the day and SchoolReach notified me at three different numbers, all at nearly the same time. It was a comfort to know I did not have to constantly check the radio, web sites or TV to find out what was happening. I saw the Parkway caller ID coming in and quickly answered the call. With one call, I knew the entire story straight from the school district."

"I wish I had the same experience with my youngest son's day care," lamented Ms. Potts." Later that same day I was on a conference call and received a call on my cell phone with the caller ID displaying "unknown caller." I didn't answer it; forty-five minutes later while I was checking messages I learned the call was our day care. The caller was a day care teacher making calls from her personal cell phone to parents to tell them the day care was closing early. When I arrived at the day care to pick up my son, they were frazzled to say the least. The director told me it took over two hours to call all the parents. I said, 'You need SchoolReach!'"

"Even in the age of the internet, a phone call is still one of the most powerful ways to get your message across," commented Paul Langhorst, Co-Founder and Vice President of Operations. "Over 96% of homes have telephones while only 74% of adults subscribe to cell phones according to the FCC filings and a recent Harris Interactive survey. The telephone is the most ubiquitous point of contact that parents have, and it offers direct, timely contact. Because SchoolReach is so affordable, our customers use SchoolReach as an overlay communication in addition to their other contact methods, which may include emails, newsletters, and radio and TV media sources. The combination creates fast and certain communication of important school messages."

SchoolReach can be used for urgent announcements, such as snow closings, and for day-to-day parent communications. Schools have great means of communicating near and long-term news to parents via web sites, newsletters and notes sent home with the kids. But it is the day-of or night-before announcement that schools struggle with and that is the niche SchoolReach serves.
"Informed parents are involved parents," explained Vicki Conrad, SchoolReach Sales Manager. "The schools that benefit most from SchoolReach are those that use us for more than the occasional emergency or closing."

SchoolReach is a web-based service and is easy for schools to establish; it requires no special hardware, software or additional phone lines. The SchoolReach system can make over 150,000 calls per hour and with this winter forecasted to be more severe than last winter, GroupCast and their SchoolReach division is expecting to be very busy in the coming months.

GroupCast, LLC, is a St. Louis-based company that provides innovative solutions
for automated communications, including voice broadcasting, text and fax
messaging. GroupCast markets its services under the trade names GroupCast,
SchoolReach, TeamBlast and StorkCalling.com. More information can be found
at www.groupcast.com , www.schoolreach.com or by contacting Paul Langhorst
636-660-8026.

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