Why The Wake-Up Call?

To the Editor:

Can someone from the Newtown public school system please explain to me why I have to receive a prerecorded telephone call at 4:50 am from the superintendent of schools informing me that there will be an early dismissal from the schools that day?

This was the second time this school year that these automated phone calls went out to families in our district by mistake, waking people up at an ungodly hour for no apparent reason. I would think that an early dismissal notification made at a later time in the morning would have the same effect as one made so early.

The last time this occurred, the district issued an apology and said the calls were mistakenly made due to a glitch in the system. Apparently they have not been able to rectify this so I would suggest to everyone who receives the next “boot camp” wake-up call to immediately relay it to each of the members of the Board of Education. You can find their home numbers on the Newtown schools website.

George Caracciolo

Schoolhouse Hill Road, Newtown                             February 3, 2009