Unfortunately, many schools with portables don't have the central computer network or the closed-circuit television network running to the portables. Some don't even have telephones. I've usually been told by principals that they just couldn't get the money to wire the portables. Maybe this column will help justify the expense to the budget makers. A similar problem arises with regard to the physical education teachers and coaches who, like the teachers in portables, are some distance away from the main building.
Many schools have primitive telephone systems.
I mean the phone switch that is the hub of the system, not the handsets you pick up to talk with. Lots of schools have systems so old that they don't even have touch-tone dialing. An elaborate, computer-based telephone, voice mail, and messaging system such as this one could be mighty useful in an emergency. In place of the standard greeting and phone menu, such a system can send an alert message to all parents. Thus the day-case centers need to be informed quickly in a crisis.