In article <Pine.LNX.4.64.0907050334130.23511@mail.pirk.com>, Steve Pirk <orion@pirk.com> writes
It's a High School. They don't have a "support desk" (or more than handful of phone lines [1]). Even the local radio station can't cope with one call per school asking them to broadcast the news that they have closed due to bad weather.
If your resources are that tight, do what our local school district did, mandate that all bus schedules will only be available on the web site.
The school doesn't have any buses. About 80% of the students walk (the average distance maybe a little over a mile) and most of the rest get taken in their parents car.
Roland, sounds like you should have a few "public service" announcements saying that school closures will be delivered via a certain twitter username.
That's what my objective is - to build a sturdy enough case for the school to have a twitter account to use during these events.
Also send a flyer home with the students.
Only about half of those ever reach home (no-one knows where they end up, but it's probably the same place as all those lost Biros). But if the school had a twitter account I'm sure the news would spread rapidly. Most of the students spend hours online every day, even if the school doesn't.
The radio station can pick up the twitter feed like everyone else, and announce closures. That is the way a certain group of people are doing it in the middle east right now, word gets around and word gets out... In your case, the community will know quickly, all from a couple of people logging into twitter and sending a few messages. Sounds like a simple, ideal solution given your budget constraints.
I hope so. -- Roland Perry