School at fault for Calvert County alert system delay

WASHINGTON – On Friday, some kids in northern Calvert County were left out in the cold and rain. Buses were running late while roads were treated for ice, but parents had no idea.

Initially, the Calvert County School District blamed its SchoolMessenger system for notifying parents 45 minutes too late about the delay.

At the time, Nancy Highsmith, the interim superintendent for Calvert County Public Schools, said, “Unfortunately, our school messenger was a little bit delayed in getting some of the notices out, which we apologize profusely for.”

Now the School system says SchoolMessenger was not responsible for the blunder.

“The lateness of the response getting out, was not the responsibility of school messenger, we’re responsible,” says Assistant School Superintendent Tony Navarro.

“It was the internal controls, the protocols that we follow in our response to emergency situations.”

“We have egg on our face, there’s no question about it,” Navrro adds

The affected kids were elementary and middle school students. The school system is working to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

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