BOULDER - Boulder Valley School District officials are apologizing to parents for what many are calling a rude awakening Friday morning.
Several parents emailed 9NEWS about a robo call they received at 4:20 a.m. announcing a snow day for students.
District officials say it was a mistake, and it won't happen again.
The district's communications director, Briggs Gamblin, sent a letter of apology to parents Friday afternoon.
It reads as follows:
"I am writing to personally apologize to each of you who were jarred awake (sometimes more than once) by a programmed telephone message between 4:20 and 4:45 AM this morning (2/3) announcing today's BVSD snow closure. The fault lies in me not directing that the phone call be delayed for at least an hour which is possible with our SchoolMessenger system. As a result of my error, the calls began going out the same time (4:20 AM) as the emails and the text messages and tweets for those who subscribe to BVSD text messaging and BVSD Twitter. I assure you that will not happen again.
"BVSD is also re-examining whether to have a phone call at all. The rationale for an early call is that there are hundreds of staff members, especially in operations, who must leave home well before 6:00 AM to be at their BVSD job. In addition, many of our mountain area and open enrollment families need information before 6:00 AM and their Internet access is not always reliable. A small but significant portion of our community does not have Internet access in their home. That stated, the superintendent and I are going to explore other options such as a possible message hotline for those without Internet access to call into. BVSD Communications will inform you through follow up email on Monday (2/6) what we plan to do including possibly replacing the need for a phone call for families and staff members."
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