FREEBEE FRIDAY: Call Home

Whether it’s a heavy snowstorm, flood or terrorism warning, setting a school up to survive an emergency doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars in equipment and software. MySchoolAlerts is a freebee that can inform parents in the event of a school-wide emergency or shutdown. It can call them, send emails or text messages. Once the system is set up, it invites parents to opt into the system and pick their preferred form of communication. Whenever there’s an emergency (or you need to send out news about the school play or an upcoming football game) just record and type your message and the software will send out thousands of messages a minute. Best of all, it’s free, although they’d appreciate a donation.