WORTHINGTON -- District 518 continued considering the Honeywell Instant Alert System at an Instructional committee meeting Monday. The system would allow the school to instantly contact parents or students by phone, e-mail or electronic organizer.
"In order to make it of value, you have to use it," said John Landgaard, District 518's superintendent.
The most well-known function of instant alert systems is to warn students, faculty and community members in the event of an emergency -- for example, an intruder entering the school or a tornado approaching the area.
The system can also be used in non-emergency situations, such as weather-related school delays or cancellations. Instead of parents having to sit by the television or radio and listen for their school's name, they could stay in bed and listen for a phone call. If a bus were delayed on the way home from a sporting event, a coach could let all the parents know.
Teachers could also use the notification system to inform parents about conferences, attendance, report cards or testing.
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Because of its membership in the Southwest/West Central Service Cooperative, District 518 could adopt the Honeywell Instant Alert System for $2.30 per student, or approximately $5,500 per year.
Parents would be able to decide how they wish to receive messages -- via e-mail, phone or text message.
No hardware, software or phone lines would need to be added. Messaging is unlimited.
District 518 may also use the system to communicate with its students, many of whom have cell phones or e-mail addresses already.
The Instructional Committee noted the instant alert system would be another tool for District 518 to communicate better with the community, one of the district's long-term goals.
In other business Monday, the committee:
* Opted to support a school district asking the Minnesota State High School League to reduce the number of contests in some sports, such as basketball and hockey, by four, and others, such as softball and gymnastics, by two. The number of contests in football and cross country would remain the same.
The request was made in order to save districts transportation money.
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Several committee members believed the basketball season was too long and had too many games -- typically 26 in a season, although District 518 only plays 24.
"With two games a week, you don't get anything done," said committee member Lori Dudley, citing the need for students to do their homework.
The Board of Education will need to approve the letter of support in order for it to be sent. Five schools will have to support the reduction in order for a resolution to go to an assembly for the Minnesota State High School League.
* Approved a request from Tammy O'Neil to attend a conference about the district's substitute teacher-finding computer program. The Subfinder Conference is Oct. 7-9 in Las Vegas, Nev.
The District 518 Board of Education will vote on the matter at its next meeting.
* Heard the results of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments II.
"I think we have some things to look at, (in) the middle school," Landgaard said. "We're doing the job of educating the kids, but I think we can do a little bit better."
One change the district is considering for Worthington Middle School is splitting the tests up across several days instead of having all the tests on the same day.
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* Learned the district is trying to clarify the extended contract time of its two full-time agriculture teachers. In many districts, Landgaard said, "classroom-related" extended contract time and time spent as an advisor of a program such as FFA is not clearly defined.
