ROYAL CITY - Royal School District will soon be implementing a new way to communicate with parents, students, staff, and community members.

Using a school notification and alerts system, the district will be able to instantly send out phone messages, text messages, e-mails, and social media updates simultaneously.

No longer will parents need to spend winter mornings checking television stations for school delays, and gone will be the days of phone trees to notify staff of closures.

"We will be able instantly call all parents, students, and staff to notify them and explain the details of the situation," Business Manager David Andra said. "If you would rather get that information in a text or e-mail we can do that too. There will even be an app for your smartphone."

Community members will be able sign up to receive instant notifications of various events of their choosing.

For example, you could receive a text message every Friday night with the final score of the football game or a reminder of when the next band concert is.

"The district is always looking for ways to effectively communicate with parents and staff," Andra said.

"The feedback from parents has been extremely positive so far, and the Parent Teacher Student Organization (PTSO) spent conference week explaining it to parents and getting them signed up."