The Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District uses the AlertNow Rapid Notification Service to keep parents and staff members informed in the event of an emergency or school-related cancellation. The system works by delivering a pre-recorded telephone message to phone numbers specified by the parents and staff members.

While the goal is to contact every person at every number specified, technical problems may prohibit the successful delivery of messages in every case. Specifically, problems with phone line or cellular connection quality, ambient noise, telephone privacy services, and some outgoing voice mail or answering machine messages may inhibit message delivery.

The following questions and answers address some of the most common concerns with the system:

How many numbers can I specify?
Parents and staff members can specify up to five numbers at which they would like to be contacted in the event of an emergency. The first number is always the student's or staff member's home phone number. The others can be any other domestic phone numbers.

How do I change the numbers being called?
Phone numbers for the emergency notication system are collected during the enrollment process. Parents who need to change phone numbers can do so by contacting the office of the student's school. The same people who handle address and phone changes for the school can also update the AlertNow data. Staff members can change their own numbers through the user management system.

Why can't you call home first, and then Dad's cell, and then Mom at work?
The AlertNow system works in parallel, calling all of the numbers at the same time. In some non-urgent cases, calls may only be placed to the student's home number. In the case of emergencies or cancellations, though, all of the numbers in the system are called.

Why do you call some people and not others for some things?
When an emergency affects some of the school population, but not all of it, only the people affected will be notified. For example, if an elementary school is closed due to a power failure, only the parents and staff members in that school will be notified. This allows us to ensure that we're not needlessly notifying parents of situations that do not affect them.

The message started playing and then stopped. Why?
AlertNow uses Answering Machine Detection (AAMD) software.  The system starts the broadcast immediately upon telephone pickup. At the same time, it is listening for interruptions.  If the system is not interrupted by noise or someone speaking within the first 3.5 seconds, the message is delivered.  If the system detects a greeting longer than a few seconds, the system treats this as an
outgoing message from an answering machine and will stop playing, wait for silence (usually after the beep), and then start the message over so that it can be recorded in its entirety.
 
While the software is 98% accurate in distinguishing live vs. machine, errors can occur if the person repeatedly says “hello” or answers in a noisy environment (i.e. traffic, children playing, loud music or television, dog barking, etc.).  Generally in these
situations, the system stops playing the message. It is waiting for silence to start the message over. In a noisy environment, where silence is unattainable, call recipients can press the number 1 on their telephone and the message will play from the beginning without interruption.

What if the line is busy or there is no answer?
The AlertNow system will make up to four attempts to reach each number, with three minutes in between each call. 

Why is my answering machine recording only half of the message?
If the answering machine greeting is sporadic with various periods of silence or does not start playing within 3 seconds, the system may read this as a live person and begin playing the message before the machine has started recording.  This will result in a recording of silence (if the AlertNow message finishes playing before the machine begins recording) or of just the last portion of the AlertNow message.  Parents can simply re-record their outgoing message so that there are no pauses.
 
Alternately, if the answering machine is set to record for a specific amount of time (e.g., 30 seconds) and the AlertNow message runs longer than that, this will also result in message cut-off.  The recommended solution is to have parents set their machines to record for a longer period.

My caller ID showed that the school had called, but there was no voicemail.  Why?
The system is will ring a line up to six times.  If your answering machine is set to pick up on seven or more rings, the message may not be delivered to your machine.  Therefore, we encourage you to set your machine to six rings or fewer. Another possibility is that there is a break or a substantial silence in your machine’s outgoing message, causing the AlertNow message to play prior to the machine actually recording.  Please make sure that the greeting is seamless to facilitate successful message delivery.

Will the system call phone numbers with extensions?
The AlertNow system cannot navigate phone menus, and is unable to dial extensions.

I have a telemarketer screening device or service.  How will that affect the call?
Devices such as TeleZapper and services from the phone company such as Privacy Manager or Privacy Director are specifically designed to prevent “unknown” calls from progressing to the customer’s phone. Emergency calls launched through AlertNow display 440-740-4000 on the caller ID. This number may be listed as an “unknown” number, triggering some privacy manager services. AlertNow’s software is designed to distinguish between a live answer and an answering machine, not to navigate though privacy management services. Parents can contact their phone company and request that 440-740-4000 be added to their list of allowed callers.