APS administrators are now a click away from informing an entire school about emergencies

The days of teachers sending notes home to parents with their kids appear to be gone at APS.

This school year, the district will use e-mails and cell phone messages to keep teachers and administrators in contact with parents of students.

“Parent Link,” as the program is known, can be used for both emergency and non-emergency situations. It will be used in everything from school lock downs to weather-related closures.

From a computer, school officials can send a recorded voice message to hundreds of home and cellular phones. They can even send e-mails.

Parents like Christine Grant say it would have been better to get a direct message about last school year's La Cueva lock down straight from APS, instead of hearing it on the news.

“That's a pretty scary way to find out about it, if you have your kids there and you're waiting to know,” she said. “It's a very scary place to be."

APS says Parent Link will allow them to inform parents about the nature of a situation, give them instructions, and keep them informed as to what they can do to help with the situation.

The system also breaks parents into groups, allowing schools to send non-emergency information—like test reminders and school events—to specific people.

The system can also be used to inform parents if their kids are ditching school, calling parents twice a day to let them know if their child is in class or not.

Parents and guardians who want to get connected to Parent Link are told to contact their student's school for more information.