Seneca Valley School District's PhoneMaster came back into service Wednesday after being hung up during the fall semester due to technical difficulties.
PhoneMaster is an automated system that informs parents and guardians when a student is absent or tardy from school.
"We stopped using it in the fall because the hardware was starting to break down," district spokeswoman Linda Andreassi said. "We thought it would be better to move to a newer version of PhoneMaster that is more reliable and dependable."
The new program cost $12,000, she said.
Prior to the automated phone system being installed about 10 years ago, calls only were made if elementary students weren't in school, Andreassi said. "Parent volunteers would go over the absentee list, contacting parents. It became too much to schedule and too big of a task," she said.
Utilizing four phone lines, the system is set up to contact from 10 a.m. to noon parents of elementary students who aren't at school, and calls to parents of seventh- to 12th-grade students are made from 6:30 to 9 p.m., when they are more likely to be home, Andreassi said.
Each call is tailored to the specific school, and a call-back number is given for parents to receive additional information on the absentee status of their child.
For the younger students, the system serves as a safety issue, Andreassi said, and for older students, it keeps parents aware of a student's absences or tardiness.
"The system has always worked out good in the past. Parents of the younger students appreciate the calls that their child is not there, and it brings attention to parents of older students that their child was absent without them knowing," Andreassi said.
Dawn Abbate, of Cranberry, a mother of students in the fifth, eighth and 11th grades, noticed the system was down last semester.
"When my kids were home sick, I was wondering why I didn't get a call," Abbate said. "It's always good to have the extra communication. I appreciate the heads-up if there's a problem."
Denise Smith and Debbie Dunbar, of Cranberry, find the system "reassuring."
Smith was "surprised" to receive a phone call last year when her son, Tyler, 6, now in the first grade, was home sick from kindergarten. "I think the system is great," Smith said. "It forces parents to know if their older kids are in school or skipping class."
"It gives you reassurance that your children are safe and where they are suppose to be," said Dunbar, the mother of four Seneca Valley students.
