Helping to get word out at Phoenix

Amber Pompa

Greenville Herald-Banner, Greenville, Texas

Dec. 24--GREENVILLE -- The Phoenix Charter School has a new way of getting the word out, one that is already in place at many school districts nationwide.

GroupCast Messaging systems -- a leader in the emerging automated call notification industry -- has partnered with the school to implement GroupCast's SchoolReach system.

This system will enable the school to issue notices of closings and schedule changes in the easiest and quickest manner possible.

School officials will be able to record a brief voice message that will then be simultaneously blasted to an entire community within minutes.

The SchoolReach system can also be used in the event of an emergency, to keep parents informed of school news or general reminders, in addition to school closures.

Once the message is recorded, it takes only 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 message in its entirety.

Replacing older forms of communication, like phone trees and sending notes home with students that often never get to their destination, this system allows for more effective and timely distribution of important information.

"SchoolReach allows a school administrator to more effectively and efficiently contact parents with important announcements," said Paul Langhorst, GroupCast vice president of Operations. "Schools struggle with day-of or night-before notices to parents; SchoolReach serves this need perfectly and requires no hardware, software or phone lines for use. We are very pleased that Phoenix Charter School recognizes the need for such a communication tool and has selected GroupCast as its partner."