School News: Lawrence Parents Urged to Sign Up for Text Alerts Regarding School Delays and Closures

The Lawrence Township public school district is encouraging parents to sign up to receive text message alerts on their cellular phones about schools delays and closures after some parents who use Comcast as their internet service provider failed to get in a timely manner two emails the district sent out on Feb. 2.

Because of the that morning, the district used its QuickNews program to send out an email at 4:51 a.m. advising that there would be a 90-minute delayed opening. A second e-mail was sent out at 6:52 a.m. advising that all township public schools would instead be closed for the day.

The district, in an email, explained the situation as follows:

“The closing notification went out later than usual. The superintendent determined the need to close schools after hearing from our business administrator who had come in and was working with the buildings and grounds crew. He felt that even with the 90-minute delay and because of the widespread icing conditions, there would not be time to get the facilities – mainly parking lots and walkways – in the conditions needed to be safe for students and staff; thus, the later determination to close schools.

“It seems that people who have Comcast as their provider received one or both of the notifications very late on Feb. 2. We checked with the vendor that hosts our website and QuickNews function and were told that because of the size of the storm and its involving multiple states, thousands of Comcast messages along the lines of ours were being sent about the same time and Comcast experienced a delay.

"The recommendation is to sign up to receive text messages (those were delivered within ten minutes of being sent) as well as QuickNews emails and to check the homepage of the website for notifications. We will not send regular news via text messages and reserve that function for urgent/emergency and school status notifications.”

To receive emails and text messages, visit the QuickNews page on the school district’s website. The district offered the following advice for those who have signed up for text messages but have not yet received any:

“If you've already signed up for text messages but are not receiving them, check your email account by signing in to QuickNews again via our website and checking the status of your text message entry. If it does not say ‘Active,’ you did not complete the second step of the text message sign-up process and respond ‘Y’ to a text message sent to your phone after you subscribed. You may edit your entry so you can activate the text message function.”

The following news was also recently reported by the school district:

• Knapp’s Cyclery of 1761 Princeton Ave. donated two bicycles to Lawrence Middle School for a drawing that was held at the end of the school’s annual student-vs.-faculty basketball game held recently. Students Erika Allen and Tahirah Wrights won the bikes.
• The Student Leadership Team at Lawrence High School hosted a blood drive on Jan. 11 that resulted in donations from more than 75 high school students and staff. Over 25 students helped organize the event with advisors Erin Chiaravalloti, Dawn Recentio, Nicole Walter, and Rachel Matushoneck. Donors were given juice, snacks and baked goods that were donated by students. “It was a wonderful community service project to help the local community. When you think about the number of students, parents, and friends that have been sick (cancer) or in traffic accidents, our students and school community wanted to be able to physically help people in need,” said Chiaravalloti, a LHS science teacher.
• Linda Luo, an eighth grader at Lawrence Middle School and a member of the school’s concert band, has been accepted into the Central Jersey Music Educators Association (CJMEA) Concert Band on the clarinet. Over 95 students from around the region auditioned on the clarinet. Linda placed sixth out of the 25 musicians who were accepted. After five rehearsals, she will perform in a concert on Sunday, March 5. As a seventh grader, Linda performed with the CJMEA Concert Band last year.
• Eldridge Park Elementary School students held a dance-a-thon on Jan. 28 and raised more than $1,000 to benefit research into Williams Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects a member of the Eldridge Park School family. Students held the fundraiser after learning more about Williams Syndrome through morning announcements, class discussions and a book entitled “Ben’s Big Decision” written by Jacquelyn Warren. A dance-a-thon was selected as the type of fundraiser because “one of the amazing things about children with Williams is their ability to connect with music.” Photos from the dance-a-thon can be viewed on the district’s website.