I'm sure opinions will vary. In our case, we would consider this something the school or the district should take on if they feel it's needed. It would not likely be a project we would feel is appropriate to the PTO.
I work for an organization which provides public safety related services, focusing on 9-1-1 database services. We have a service that has been deployed at a local school, which allows the school to call designated numbers (parents home, office, cell, etc.) and deliver a custom message recorded by the school. Uses for this have included, snow closures, extracurricular activities updates, as well as a recent mercury spill at the school which required evacuation and the school. Using the system, the school was able to contact parents with clear concise information on the event and was able to prevent the spread of misinformation. We believe this is can be a valuable safety tool for all schools. My question for this forum is, would a service such as this be something a PTO would be interested in funding? (The referenced school is a private school and funding was not really a point of discussion.) If I could get feed back on whether funding this type of service would be something a PTO would (or could) do, I would certainly appreciate it.
