Omaha Public Schools will soon have a new tool to use during emergencies. A phone notification system will keep parents informed when a situation affects their children.

Erin Jessen is a paraprofessional at Pinewood School, but she's also a mom who knows it's important to know what's going on with her kids.

She used to work at another OPS school when it went into lockdown. "They didn't allow anyone to leave the building without a parent, so we had lists and we had to call each student’s contact person for each parent and it took hours."

That will soon change when a new phone notification system is in place. OPS administration can call parents if an emergency affects their child's school.

When Northwest High School went into lockdown in December of 2006 because of a student with a gun, many parents were frustrated not knowing what was going on.

"Northwest was in lockdown and it's a great way that now for us to be able to notify parents, give them an update, tell them what's occurring in the building, what their instructions need to be and where they can wait," says OPS’s Luanne Nelson.

Nelson says many factors went into the decision to invest in the technology, but they will only use it for emergencies like snow days, lockdowns, water main breaks and power outages.

“Say you live in the neighborhood and there's an electrical problem at your house as well, you don't know if you don't have a radio or television,” says Jessen.

“You don't know that the school is closed as well. If the phone rings and you pick it up and they say there is no school today, then yeah, that comes in very handy."

Millard, Papillion-La Vista and Westside already have phone notification systems in place. All three districts use their systems for more than just emergencies. They also use it for reminders like attendance issues, field trips and overdue library books.

The system at OPS should be in place sometime this spring or summer.