Leader Alert(R) Chosen by Mansfield City Schools for Safety Alerting – New System Can Alert Parents, Staff in Minutes : Mon, 30 Jun 2008 : California Newswire™

Leader Alert(R) Chosen by Mansfield City Schools for Safety Alerting – New System Can Alert Parents, Staff in Minutes

Edited by Valerie Gotten
published Mon, 30 Jun 2008 – 22:08:33 +0000 UTCNo Comment

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Lloyd D. Martin, superintendent of Mansfield City Schools, announced today that the school district has chosen Leader(R) Alert, a health and safety alerting product, for use in its school district of 4700 students. Leader Alert(R), the creation of Leader Technologies(R) of Columbus, Ohio, makes it possible for a school to quickly and simultaneously alert thousands of parents and staff by telephone, texting, and email in case of emergencies ranging from lurking predators to snow days.

According to Supt. Martin, “Mansfield City Schools is excited to have the new Leader Alert(R) system in place. The system will be a wonderful tool that will allow us to communicate quickly with our parents, faculty and staff.”

Martin also noted that the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) endorsed Leader Alert(R) after extensive testing, calling it “superior to other alerting systems and cost effective for schools.”

Ronetta Banks, Executive Director of Instructional Technology at MCS, believes that Leader Alert(R) is “the best solution for enhancing our communication efforts and sending emergency notifications to our students, parents and community members.”

Leader Alert(R) is already in use in a number of Ohio school districts, Leader CEO Mike McKibben said. “In 2007, Parma City Schools used Leader Alert(R) to notify 700 parents within minutes of an armed attacker being apprehended while trying to enter the school. Because parents quickly knew the facts, classes were not disrupted, and rumors and panic were avoided.”

Leader’s alerting and audio conferencing services were used extensively by the Louisiana Governor’s Office in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, after many of the state’s other communications systems had failed.

Although Supt. Martin envisions using Leader Alert(R) for school-related warnings and notifications, Leader Alert(R) has diverse applications ranging from terrorist attack simulations to early storm warnings to boat owners. It is currently in use as a health and safety alerting tool on school and college campuses across the United States.

Leader Technologies(R) Incorporated is located in Westerville, Ohio and offers other communications and alerting products and may be reached by calling John Needham, (614) 890-l986 or online at www.leader.com.

Mansfield City Schools is a public school district located in Mansfield, Ohio. For details or further information contact Mansfield City Schools – 124 N. Linden Road, Mansfield, OH 44906 (419) 525-6400 / (419) 525-6415 (fax) and online at www.tygerpride.com.

ABOUT THE EDITOR: Valerie Gotten (aka Valerie G) is an abstract painter, former movie stand-in, and volunteers for "green events" to help raise awareness about global warming, and help preserve California's wilderness and natural beauty.