Virginia Tech Notification System

I've been hearing since the news broke on the Virginia Tech shootings that Virginia Tech notified it's students by email of the situation as it unfolded. A Resident Assistant apparently also went door to door in at least one of the dormitory buildings to alert students not to leave their rooms. Nothing will take the place of verbal one-to-one communication, but computers and the Internet can be used to bridge the gap of distance and numbers of people.

Another good reason to have high tech available is that students could let their families know that they are safe. That relieves the parents of worry about their children and keeps people away from the school. At a time like this, the fewer "outsiders" around the better to keep control of the campus. If I had a child at VT, and couldn't get hold of my kid, I'd be at the gates as soon as I could. Any parent would want to know that their child is safe. Email is a good way of letting friends and family know that they are safe.

Cell phones are another nearly indispensable item to have. VT students away from their dorm rooms, or even in their dorms, could let their friends and family know that they were okay quickly. Using cell phones can relieve the stress and worry of friends and family wanting to know about students in the danger zone. The bad side of cell phones is when a call isn't answered. One could only begin to assume to worst.

Until recently, I was on the fence as to whether it was really necessary for middle and high school students to have cell phones. I've now come to think that it's a necessity. We had a school bus accident here a year or so ago. The kids were able to call their parents and let them know about the accident and that the child was not injured. EMS and police were on the scene within minutes. Parents arrived and took their children home, to school, or to a doctor. The parents knew almost immediately that their child was fine and could take action without being scared about what they would find when notified by school authorities.

Kids are also able to get help when their personal safety is compromised when they have cell phones. When Clay Moore was kidnapped here a few weeks ago, law enforcement was notified almost immediately. There was little delay in getting LE out looking for the suspect.

I'm becoming more and more tech savvy every day and think that the administration using email to communicate with students is a good idea. This is a great idea for "ordinary" events. Not so great for notification of serious situations as happened today, but still, it may have saved lives by keeping students in their rooms and not coming into contact with the shooter.

Perhaps instead of putting money into football stadiums we need to have electronic news feeds on buildings. I think these news feeds are still in use in New York - Times Square comes to mind. Perhaps TV monitors near main doors. Not necessarily to alert students of shootings, but for general purpose as well. Class cancellation, campus events, I think you can think of all kinds of things that could be broadcast.

I've thought a couple of times in my work that a news feed type of thing would be good. It's sometimes very hard to be heard over room intercoms or a PA system. If I could type the information I want to get across and have it broadcast, I could get a response faster than yelling over the intercom and hoping I can catch someone's attention.