"I don't think anybody would argue in the light of recent tragic events in Victoria or even on the Eyre Peninsula late last year or the Eyre Peninsula fires, that we are taking extra precautions because of the extremely changing circumstances," she said in February 2009.

The Education Department said at the time it was the first time schools have been closed in South Australia because of a fire risk.

The ABC reported that the Department says parents who are unsure whether their children were affected that they are advised to contact their school.

But how do schools contact parents and caregivers in the event of a school closure and how do the schools have confirmation of this notice being received by parents?

As a result of this need and in line with what is now available through new technologies schools have instigated a solution in new a two way school SMS service available from SMSinbulk.

The EAARS service allows schools at any time, in any place, contact all parents and caregivers within the school community in the event of an emergency, such as school closures. Through this on line solution schools can send messages in bulk via a text message to their mobile phones.

To ensure the efficiency of this school SMS system all parents and caregivers of children within the school community can advise by a return message which is collated by the system for the schools information.

The school SMS system is time efficient, cost effective and easily activated in a matter of minutes and is ideal for this application.

Peter Cap from “EAARS” the Emergency Alert Action Response
System, school SMS service said, “With the EAARS system in place schools can
even send out pacifying messages just informing the community of what is
occurring. This calms the community in such times of crisis when information is
highly sort after and can otherwise be easily distorted.”

“EAARS has the capability to broadcast personalised SMS
messages to any or all sections of the school community quickly and efficiently
in times of crisis and is specifically designed for school application”, Peter Cap continued.