IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT......ALERTNOW WEB REPLAY A feature is available which allows Dallas Center-Grimes parents online access to view or listen to AlertNow messages sent in the previous 15 days. Below is a link to the site. Enter your email address or phone number and select the message to read or listen to. Go to www.alertnowmessage.com AlertNow...Basic Message Information. In January of 2008 the Dallas Center-Grimes school district began using a new technology tool to improve communication. This tool, called AlertNow (http://www.alertnow.com), is used to notify parents, students, faculty, staff, and other key members of the school community in the event of an emergency or other district-wide message. The district acquired the notification system as a way of providing families important information as quickly and as accurately as possible. So far the system has primarily been used to notify parents, guardians, and staff of weather related information; late start, early dismissal, and cancellation of classes. Additional uses to keep the DC-G community informed are being looked at. See AlertNow and Dallas Center-Grimes info here.. IowaSD_CS.pdf EXPLANATION OF EMERGENCY AND GENERAL NOTIFICATION MESSAGES The system utilizes two types of notification messages; General Notification and Emergency Notification. General Notification: Lower level notification which goes to all families 1st contact phone number and 1st email address. This has generally been used for Late Starts because most students are assumed to be home at 6 AM and there is no need to call all cell phones, work phones, etc. Because this goes to just the first phone and email contact, it is important to decide which phone number a family wishes to use for that first contact. By default we use the HOME PHONE of the house where the student lives. If this first contact number should be different, see the contact information below. Emergency Notification: This is a more important message and is sent to ALL numbers and two email accounts listed for each family. This has been used when school has been dismissed early or cancelled because by later in day when this call is made, people are spread out and so calls go to ALL listed numbers. How does the system work? In the event of a General Notification or Emergency Notification message, someone designated by district superintendent. Gary Sinclair, creates a voice message and/or an email message which is sent to families' contact information. Contact information includes phone numbers and email addresses. The contact information used by the district comes from the student information system, Infinite Campus. Currently the district has the AlertNow system contact up to five (5) phone numbers and two (2) email addresses. The calls and emails are sent simultaneously to the intended audience; parent, staff, or both depending on the situation. Generally a message sent to parents is also sent to staff. If school is in session, staff are notified via a separate message from building principal. If the messages are sent separately to the two groups, then staff members that are also employees might receive two calls or messages. What if I am not contacted? If you do NOT get contacted and believe you should have do one of the following. Call Brian Weidenthaler at 515-992-3838 or your student's building secretary. You can also email Brian Weidenthaler at bweidenthaler@dc-grimes.k12.ia.us Please include the student's name, the phone number you expected a call to and any contact information that can be used to contact you with any questions. IMPORTANT NOTE: Several people have reported that the AlertNow call has hung up on them before they heard the message. Here is a possible explanation as to why that happened and what can be done the next time this happens. This would most likely be caused by the AlertNow Answering Machine Detection picking up on background noise which would trigger the ALERTNOW message to stop and wait for silence, before leaving the message. This normally allows the system to respond to an answering machine in time to stop the ALERTNOW message and begin again once the Answering machine is finished playing its outgoing message so that the entire ALERTNOW message will be recorded on the Answering Machine. What has most likely happened is that the system responded to some sort of noise and was simply waiting for silence- most likely the system had not ended the call, but was just waiting to play the message until what it perceived as an ‘answering machine’ finished playing.  If silence is not an option, pressing the number 1 on the phone will over-ride this Answering Machine Detection so the system recognizes there is a live person listening and would then play through in its entirety regardless of any background noise. Below are a list of codes the system assigns to each call to phone contacts and are recorded in the call report which is generated for each message sent. Report Codes ...Detailed Descriptions Live Answer** ...The message was delivered to a live person Live (Partial)**...The call recipient hung up before the message was delivered in its entirety. Answering Machine**...The message was delivered to an answering machine or voicemail box Busy ...The number dialed was busy or unavailable at the time of the call No Answer ...There was no answer detected for the number called. Line Disconnected...The number is no longer in service or unavailable at this time Sent ...The message was successfully sent to a valid email address or phone number. Invalid ...The number or email address provided is invalid for the message type selected Unreachable...The destination email address was unavailable Transfer...The call was transfered to another number Blocked...The local carrier reports that this number does not allow incoming calls Unconfirmed ....The carrier received the call but delivery could not be verified No Ring ...There was no ring detected for the number dialed Error ...The error could not be determined Fax/Modem ...A fax or modem tone was detected by the system. ** Denotes successful call Phone Contact vs Email Contact: Probably the quickest way to contact people is using phone contacts. This phone contact can be the home phone number of the residence where the student(s) lives. It could also be a cell phone number or work number of the parents/guardians. The number of a relative that is responsible for the student in the case of an early dismissal can also be used. It is NOT suggested that a general work phone without an extension be used as the person answering the phone and hearing the message will NOT know who the message is intended for. The system can call extension numbers at employee work place, but it can be annoying if the call goes to a general work number. What if I move or change cell phone or my email address changes? Contact Brian Weidenthaler or the building secretary as mentioned above as soon as you have the new information. IMPORTANT: The order of the numbers is NOT important. The ONLY important number is the 1st phone contact. As stated above...a General Notification message goes to just the first number listed. An Emergency Notification message goes to ALL numbers listed. So it is important to have a 1st contact number be someone that will know what to do with the information in the event of a weather related message or other type of message sent to parents and staff members.