www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday January 30, 2009 - 5 Snow day notice came too late for many public school parents The Halton District School Board is reviewing its procedures after numerous parents didn't receive automatic notification on Wednesday about school closures due to the weather. A board press release states that staff at the Halton public board are problem solving with the provider of the board's Home Notification System. It failed to operate as expected on Wednesday, Jan. 28, a day schools were closed due to a snowstorm. Board officials say the system failed to notify many of its subscribed households, either by e-mail or phone, or in time for parents to be aware of the snow day decision. The board says only 44 per cent of telephone subscriber calls were made to homes within the Halton public board on Jan. 28, with many calls made too late to be of value to parents and guardians. "This is far less than the 94.8 per cent call rate the board experienced on the previous transportation cancellation message of Dec. 19, 2008," the board stated. The Halton District School Board provides snow day information on its website (www.hdsb.ca), through its switchboard and through designated media outlets such as local radio and television stations. The Home Notification System supplements the traditional communication methods. The board says its notification system is provided through an outside party, which provides a similar service to other school boards in Canada and the United States. The vendor has responded to the board's two main concerns: · the lateness of telephone calls and that many did not receive a telephone call; · the late delivery of an e-mail notice. The board says the service provider explained that they were over-subscribed with too many messages and not enough capacity within its delivery system to send out the required telephone messages to subscribers in a timely fashion. "The timing of e-mail delivery may not be as easily resolved, however the vendor is also working on solutions to address this shortcoming. The Halton District School Board's priority is to ensure the telephone calling capacity is addressed in a timeeffective manner," said the board. KENNEDY FORD FRI. and SAT. Only!! OAKVILLE'S ORIGINAL DEALER Event 2008 FORD DEM $ $ $ $ 17,0 294 52 NEW 2009 FORD FOCUS SE 0% 72 MONTHS INVENTORY ONLY 4 REMAIN! EDGE AWD LTD. ,992 30 544 O RA CLEA NCE 44, FINANCING UP TO 2 TO OSE CHO M FRO $ $ 21,2 398 75 NEW 2009 FORD MUSTANG 2008 FORD O DEM $ F150 REG. CAB ,995 $ 14 244 27, C AN LEAR CE $ $ 17,9 335 95 NEW 2009 FORD GT 500 SHELBY STOP BY AND SEE OUR FUSION SE 2008 FORD FOOSE F150 RY 1 E N T O$ 7,02 V IN $ 3 RA CLEA NCE 4 59,3 7 QEW @ DORVAL OAKVILLE 905.845.1646 ALL PRICES PLUS FREIGHT AND AIR TAX, FOCUS/FUSION $1300, MUSTANG $1275, PAYMENTS REFLECT FREIGHT AND AIR TAX AS DOWNPAYMENT, LEASES ARE 48 MONTHS, 20,000KMS/YR., INTEREST RATE: FOCUS 4.0%, FUSION/ MUSTANG 6.9% DUE AT SIGNING, FIRST, TAXES, PPSA, LICENSE FEE, GAS, GAS TAX. DEMO/CLEARANCE UNITS CASH PURCHASE PRICE ONLY. AXZ RULES APPLY. SEE DEALER FOR DETAILS. VEHICLES MAY NOT BE EXACTLY AS ILLUSTRATED. QEW WYECROFT www.kennedyford.ca DORVAL VAL