Thank you so much for your replies. Right now we have a phone tree. The school secretary calls the Weather Tree captain (Me) and I call the ten board members; they call ten parents who each then call ten families. Here is my problem: it's almost March and I still don't have emergency contacts for about 20 students. We ONLY use our weather tree for emergency dismissal. I have sent repeated requests home for the information and have not had a response. I think the school should do it my classroom. Have the teacher call say one parent or two and they contact all the parents in that class. That way there is already an established relationship with the parents. Also-I think a note from the teacher would bring a better response for information rather than from someone they may not know (me). What do y'all think?
Our school district uses radio and tv also, but this year added a new medium--e-mail. They set up an automatic e-mail system where you go and register and when a school dismissal, late start, or cancellation occurs, you get an e-mail telling you about it. It is wonderful! I work part-time and don't have a radio or tv at work. Previously I relied on my husband or friends to call me and let me know about sudden early dismissals. Now it just pops up on my computer!
I think the school district worked with the local paper(who has a website) to get this set up.
In our area local media information leaves a lot to be desired; it's a big county with LOT of schools plus we're next door to NYC, so if you miss your announcement on the radio/tv you could be waiting a looong time before it comes up again. We found for school closings or early dismissals this procedure works well for us: administration calls PTA pres. She then calls the three mothers who organize the homeroom mothers. They in turn call the mothers they're responsible for, who have been given access to addresses/phone numbers for this reason. The homeroom moms then call the parents at home/work. Just make sure you have responsible people doing the calling; we had a sticky situation where a couple of the homeroom mothers went back to sleep after getting their call that school would be closed and failed to notify the people they're responsible for! There were a few parents who showed up at school,only to find it was closed! Needless to say, people were steamed!
Back in Iowa, the local radio stations were great at getting the word out and in the last few years the local cable stations and news channels (espiecially ones with web sites) are what we use here in Denver. This information and a list of which stations are listed three times a year in the school's newsletter and it was on the website at one time. We don't have a calling tree because of privacy issues (welcome to the 21st century)
My parents are still in a small rural town in Iowa and the local radio station is the main information source both AM and FM.
We set up a phone tree also, but it is voluntary and is only used for early dismissal, NOT late openings or school cancellations due to weather. At the start of school everyone is given a flyer with the above information and call letters and web address of local radio/tv stations. A sign up sheet is sent out and parents must opt to be called. A reason not to be called is if you have older children who would be home earlier then elementary students anyway. Most people do sign up for it.
We also start off with two people, who then call about 8 people, who also call about 6-8 people and those people call just a few people. We ask people on the sign up flyer if they are willing to make some calls. I opted to just call a few because I have older children and may well not be home when phone calls need to be made. If you are the person making calls and you are calling someone and they're not home, then you keep calling until you get someone. We have about 300 students.
We used to call when there was a delay and it used to be the homeroom parents job. But, after one bad winter and numerous calls by the homeroom parents, "What do you mean there's no school again??!" We decided to turn over the responsibility to the parents to check the radio/tv/computers themselves before school was supposed to start. I have my computer set up with the local tv station that if there's a delay or cancellation in our district, I get an automatic e-mail. good luck!
