During the 2008-2009 school year, Walker County Schools will be utilizing a state-of-the-art rapid alert and notification system: SchoolCast.  Developed by High Ground Solutions, our schools will be providing parents, students, faculty, and staff members with the most advanced rapid communication solution available for schools.  We believe that this system will greatly improve the timeliness and quality of our emergency communications and provide us with a convenient and affordable tool for more effectively communicating non-emergency reminders and notices as well.

With SchoolCast, our schools will be able to reach literally thousands of parents, faculty members, and other emergency contacts within moments of a closing or early dismissal decision being made.  This enables us to make the best choices regarding our school operations based on the most accurate and timely information available to not only help ensure the safety and welfare of your children, but also help reduce and eliminate incidents of unnecessary closings – which are inconvenient and costly for schools and parents alike.

Please update your student’s account with all of your emergency contact information (including home, work, and cell phone number(s); email addresses; and the names and numbers of others that may be contacted on your behalf should our school not be able to reach you during an emergency closure, late start, or early dismissal.

While the primary usage of SchoolCast will be for emergency contact situations, the SchoolCast system is capable of many other uses when it is important to reach a large number of contacts in a short period of time (i.e. buses returning late from a field trip, cancellations or changes to athletic practices, etc).  As we gain experience on SchoolCast in the upcoming school year, we anticipate even more uses of SchoolCast to assist us in our goal of continuously improving and enhancing our communication to parents, faculty and staff members in all areas of school life.

We are excited about all of the exciting ways SchoolCast will be enhancing our communication in the years ahead and we are confident you will be equally as pleased at the improvement in your overall communication experience with our schools.

For more information about SchoolCast, you can visit: www.highgroundsolutions.com