School districts eye emergency alert system

Just a day after a bomb threat was called into a Rockland school for the third time this year, districts are now seeking better ways to inform parents of security problems. Help is now available in

News 12 Staff

May 28, 2014, 8:57 PM

Updated 3,628 days ago

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School districts eye emergency alert system
Just a day after a bomb threat was called into a Rockland school for the third time this year, districts are now seeking better ways to inform parents of security problems.
Help is now available in the form of a program called K12 Alerts, a communications system designed six years ago by Greg Bender. He started the company to assist school districts after he realized that too often the wrong information was getting out to parents. Parents give out their information, which is entered into a database in case of an emergency.
The system was put into effect during a bomb threat that took place at Tappan Zee High School last month. In that incident, the voice-recorded message of Superintendent Dr. Joseph Zambito was sent out to every parent in the South Orangetown School District to alert them about the situation. That was followed by e-mails and text messages.
The Ramapo School District used the alert system when police were searching for a home invader near a school last week. They sent out a message to let parents know that school was under high alert. Many more districts are signing up for the ?triple-play? alert system.


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