The St. Charles Parish public schools’ communication system proved its value during Hurricane Gustav, calling 136,816 numbers to inform parents of closings and when schools would re-open as soon as a mandatory evacuation was called.
The system made those calls with an 89.3 success rate. The success rate for the program is measured by how many calls went directly to a live person or were connected to an answering machine. An unsuccessful call is one in which the system reached a busy number, called a wrong number or wasn’t answered.
“Once again, Connect-ED proved to be a lifeline between our district and our stakeholders,” Rochelle Cancienne-Touchard, the school system’s director of public information, said. “Granted, the communication lines weren’t down to the extreme they were during Katrina, because our Web site was up 24-7 and those who evacuated could get information from the site, but it still proved to be an invaluable service to get information about the schools to those that need it.”
Overall, there were seven separate messages sent with Connect-ED. Along with each message, 8,647 emails were also delivered.
“I heard from friends, and even those who work for the district, just how much they appreciated having consistent, concise information sent to them,” Cancienne-Touchard said.
But Connect-ED wasn’t the only thing working during Gustav. John Rome, the schools’ physical plant services administrator, says that school employees put in 3,500 hours over the nine days of Gustav. Of that, 913 hours were by the physical plant staff, 121 hours were by custodians, 96 hours were put in by ancillary services and 1,826 were put in by bus drivers.
Numerous hours were also put in by school administrators.
The school system’s Connect-ED service enables school administrators to record, schedule, send and track personalized voice messages to thousands of students, parents and staff in minutes. Aside from its use during emergency situations, Connect-ED also notifies parents or guardians if their children are absent from school.
“It has an attendance mechanism that is primarily used in our middle and high schools that calls the homes of any students who are not in school and leaves an automated message,” Cancienne-Touchard said.
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