Test made of Reverse 911 system

Prompted by boiler shutdown

NORTH CANAAN — Anyone who tuned in to the noon television news or local radio on Nov. 22 heard an announcement that North Canaan Elementary School was closing at 1 p.m. due to a lack of heat.

A lot of people didn’t even have to do that. They received a message at home, work, on cells phones, and via text and e-mails.

It turned out a circuit board that feeds electricity to the school’s three boilers shorted out. The silver lining was that it was a very successful test of the Reverse 911 system in place for mass emergency notification.

It was unseasonably warm that day, but it was determined the furnace had probably been out since Saturday. During the cold nights in between, temperatures inside the school dropped and dampness reigned. On Monday morning, there were spots in the school as chilly as 55 degrees, and without the boilers, there was no hot water.

A temporary fix was in place before the day was out and the heating system, sans thermostat control, set to very low Monday night. It allowed school to be in session the next day, and for replacement parts to arrive and permanent repairs to be made.

Meanwhile, the school is analyzing the Reverse 911 scenario. Principal Rosemary Keilty explained that it works on the school’s end simply by her calling a phone number, where she records a message with a brief explanation of the situation. It is sent out to phones as voice or text messages and as e-mails. Families of the school’s youngest students were called as well, just to be sure parents knew they would be arriving home early.

The result was that only a couple of children had to be brought back to school by bus drivers.

There were a couple of obvious glitches. Parents were asked at the beginning of the school year to provide up to three phone numbers, and e-mail and text contacts, as they desired to be notified. The majority used their home phone number, assuming most mass notifications would be about snow days.

“Those calls are made at 5:30 a.m., so people typically didn’t give their work number,� Keilty said. “So when the calls go out in the middle of the day, and the parent is at work, they don’t get it until later.�

The other issue is that the calls show up on caller ID as “Town of North Canaan,� since the system is registered to the town.

“People who came home and saw that on their phone, and who don’t have an answering machine, wondered why someone was calling them from Town Hall.�

The selectmen’s office did receive several calls from confused parents on Tuesday.

Keilty said the caller ID situation will probably not change, but said notification could be improved if families provide more phone numbers, especially cell phone numbers, and keep in mind that they may be receive emergency notification at any time.

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