| School Closings: Sign up for textcasting! |
| 10/1/2009 1:00:00 AM |
| By: Vice President Gil Kennon, (573) 518-2157 |
|
 |
|
(PARK HILLS) – Fall is here, with winter to follow, bringing to mind one of the classic cliff-hangers of students everywhere: Will classes be cancelled because of inclement weather?
Mineral Area College students can be among the first at their college to know whether to brave the weather and show up that day. They can also find out about other timely events and notifications such as early class dismissals, emergency information, and school event reminders, thanks to the textcasting and e-mailing service provided for the community college by Belgrade State Bank.
By visiting www.MineralArea.edu, clicking the “MAC Alerts” link, and entering one’s cell phone, wireless carrier, and e-mail address information, students can have alerts sent to their e-mail message boxes and cell phones as soon as the decision to close or delay classes is made.
More than 1,400 students and MAC employees have signed up for the service. Parents of students can also sign up for the textcasting service.
Vice President of College Affairs Gil Kennon said students might want to check their cell phone plans for any text message fees their wireless provider may charge, but otherwise, sign-up is free.
“Belgrade State Bank has been a great partner on a variety of prior MAC projects and we really appreciate them making this service available,” Kennon said. “And, I want to stress, it’s spam-free. The names and contact information of the students who sign up are well-protected. If they decide to unsubscribe at any time, or change their message preferences, they can. We think it’ll really take off, though, given the increasing popularity of texting.”
Notifications of school closings and delays will still be broadcast over local radio stations, some TV stations, the school’s Web site, and on cancellations.com.
The most commonly used messages during inclement weather closings and delays are:
“Mineral Area College is closed,” meaning classes are cancelled and offices are also closed for business.
“Classes at Mineral Area College are cancelled,” means offices are open for business, but classes are cancelled.
“Mineral Area College will be operating on a late schedule due to inclement weather,” means the campus will open and classes will begin at 11 a.m., and offices will generally be open at 8 a.m.
Evening classes’ dismissal will be made to the same media after 3 p.m.
|
|
| Related Link: |
|