TUPELO – A new phone notification system soon will allow schools in the Lee County district to communicate more easily with parents about special announcements, student absences or emergencies.

The district recently bough a SchoolCast system that will enable it to send a single message to a large group of parents. Messages can be sent by phone, text message or e-mail. The district plans to have the system in place by the start of the second semester.

“This will allow us to keep parents informed,” Lee County Superintendent Mike Scott said.

Parents can be divided into different groups, which will allow the district to contact parents by school or by team or organization. Parents also can be contacted districtwide.

The new plan will cost the district roughly $13,800, or $2 per student. That money will come from federal Title 6 funds. The cost also covers training for district personnel.

Other schools have been using notification systems. Both Itawamba Community College and the Itawamba County School District have SchoolCast systems.

Danny McBrayer, Lee County Director of Workforce Development, said the district consulted both of them to see what worked well with the system and what didn’t.

Tupelo has a phone-notification system that uses a different company.

Parents will be given information sheets on which they can provide which phone numbers or e-mail addresses they would like to have entered into the system. The district also will be able to contact businesses that employ a large number of parents, such as factories.

Messages will be sent to all recipients within 10 minutes, said McBrayer, who has done a lot of work in helping the district select the system to use.

The system will contact parents of all students who where absent, freeing up district clerks who currently spend several hours each day making those calls. It can be used to inform parents about report card dates, discipline issues, lunch room fees, buses running late or school being let out early or canceled.

“The best benefit is safety,” said Mooreville Middle School Assistant Principal Adam Lindsey. “If there are snow days or bad weather, we can let parents know within seconds about what steps the school is taking to handle the emergency.”

Scott said it also will help the district communicate with parents about exactly what is happening.

For instance, when there were rumors about a lockdown at Saltillo High School a couple of weeks ago, parents could have been notified that those rumors were false, Scott said.

“If it is a dangerous situation, we want parents to know it,” McBrayer said. “If it is not a dangerous situation, we don’t want parents to be upset and alarmed if there is no reason to be upset and alarmed.”

Contact Chris Kieffer at (662) 678-1590 or at chris.kieffer@djournal.com.