School closings and event cancellations

Question: Due to the recent rumors/threats, are you planning on cancelling events after school and even possibly closing school?

Answer: Whenever we have to deviate from our regular school schedule for any reason, including closing or delaying the start of school because of weather concerns, closing school early, and/or cancelling after-school activities, we will inform all residents through every communications channel at our disposal, including our district website (www.bpcsd.org), Facebook page, Twitter feed, School News Notifier, automated calling system, and local television and radio stations.

- answered by Stephen Tomlinson, Superintendent of Schools

Hurricane Sandy and emergency notifications

Question: Are you considering closing school due to the hurricane coming tomorrow? It is supposed to be windy.

Answer: As of right now (10 a.m., Monday, Oct. 29), Broadalbin-Perth is operating on its normal schedule. If the effects of Hurricane Sandy create a situation that affects the normal operation of the school district, after-school activities, or sports team practices or games, we will inform all residents through every communications channel at our disposal, including our district website (www.bpcsd.org), Facebook page, Twitter feed, School News Notifier, automated calling system, and local television and radio stations.

Please do what you can to prepare your family for an extended power outage, which forecasters say will probably be the most significant effect of Sandy in our area. Thank you, and stay safe.
- answered by Stephen Tomlinson, superintendent of schools

ConnectED calls

Question: The question of who has access to the automated phone system has been asked and answered a couple of times, and while I still find some of the material questionable for use, I'd like to understand how the timing of message delivery is determined. Having just received a non-emergency message from the district after 8:30 p.m. seems unreasonable to me. Since you can't interact with the messaging system, why can't the campaigns be sent out during the business day? There is value in a system such as this, but I am afraid that some poor choices on message content and timing unfortunately gives the system a bad reputation.

Answer: We apologize for the late hour of last night's message. That was a mistake. In general, we try to time our ConnectED calls to go out around dinnertime so we have the best chance of reaching people without causing too much disruption in their lives.

- answered by Stephen Tomlinson, District Superintendent

Why was ConnectEd used to notify residents about the Home Show?

Question: Why does the school use the phone system to call people about the home show? This is not something that is a school function. This use is a waste of taxpayer money and time.


Answer: We see the use of the Blackboard Connect as a community service, and a sharing of services with the greater community.

When the Board of Education committed to improving communications with the community, including taxpayers at large, it decided (after researching various methods) that a phone system like the one we have now could be effective. We can send announcements to all community members, not just those have children in the schools or work in the schools.

The phone service has gotten great reviews—taxpayers have called my office to tell me, “This is money well spent!” Twice the call system has been used to locate missing children within minutes.

The Board of Education feels the school should be part of the larger community. Using the phone service to reach out to all community members, especially for events that are happening within our schools like the Home Show, is a way for us to be part of our community as a whole.
-answered by Stephen Tomlinson, District Superintendent

Use of the ConnectED system

Question: What is B-P's policy for utilizing the ConnectED phone alert system? This is a powerful tool that can be used to contact a massive number of school district residents in the event of an emergency. I do not believe that the intent of the school board, when it authorized the purchase, was for this system to be used as an advertising vehicle for fundraisers and school events. Over-utilization will tend to "turn off" residents and parents to the urgency of a real emergency situation.

Answer: The ConnectED automated phone system was purchased as part of a Board of Education goal to increase communication without increasing the amount of paper we use. Since we began using the system, we've received a lot of good reviews -- in fact, we've used the system twice when children have gone missing to positive results.

A limited number of people in the school district have access to the ConnectED system, and messages must go through them before they are disseminated to the public. There are some messages that maybe should not have gone out, but we are constantly monitoring the type of messages that are sent to residents in order to optimize the use of the system without abusing it.

That being said, anyone who would like to opt out of receiving ConnectED calls from Broadalbin-Perth can call Georgia Baldwin at 954-2500.
- answered by Stephen Tomlinson, Superintendent

ConnectED system helps find missing child

Comment: I would like to commend the school district for the wonderful efforts made when a child was missing from our school district. Having the phone system in place for an emergency like that is very comforting to me knowing that every effort is being made to help find a child. Thank you to the district for being as concerned and informative as you are.

Re-hearing ConnectED messages

Question: Is there a phone number we can call to replay the automated voice messages that are sent by the superintendent to our home phones? I pressed * (star) to replay a recent urgent message about a missing child as instructed by the prompt and it disconnected me. I had no way of getting to the information again.

Answer: You can access the latest message sent via the district's ConnectED calling system by dialing 1-877-REPLAY1 (737-5291). This call must be made from the phone that you receive ConnectED calls on (i.e., your home phone).
- Marco Zumbolo, Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations