GAFFNEY - Parents of Cherokee County students should not be surprised to receive phone calls at home from school officials or have their photos made when visiting one of the district's 20 campuses.

The reason for the calls, part to a new program that started last week, is not to report bad behavior.

Other parents in the neighborhood, and perhaps, county wide, will get the same notification.

And the policy of making photos at the entrance of each school began in the spring as a safety measure, Bill James, superintendent, said Tuesday.

The two programs, Alert Now, and a spinoff of Ident-A-Kid, are computer-generated services.

Students will be taking home forms by Thursday to update their telephone contact numbers to ensure parents receive the Alert Now calls.

James said the alert program is up and running and will be useful for all parents and students when the weather changes but can also be used to pinpoint the numbers for members of the basketball team to tell them about a postponed game or various news events.

"The program has the capability of calling many or as few as we choose to give closings because of weather or PTA meeting announcements," he said.

The community lost one source of receiving weather cancellations and delays when WAGI-FM radio was sold earlier this year."Many people used the radio, and TV, to learn about school closings early in the morning. We'll still make the information available to TV, but we look forward to using this feature to call the homes of students and teachers when the weather changes," he said.

Other messages will also be sent to the data base.

Information on bomb threats at schools, bus delays, notification for parents to pick students up early because of inclement weather, no water and no heat will be useful at the elementary school level.

Chad Hudson, director of the district's computer technology department, said testing of Alert Now last week showed the data base of contact numbers for parents needed to be updated.

Hudson recommended parents and guardians return the forms and include home, office and cell numbers.

Alert Now cost $10,000 to implement.

The Ident-A-Kid security program that began last year cost about $3,000 to equip the 20 schools' main buildings with web cams and label markers.

Hudson said Ident-A-Kid provided the free programming for computers that were no longer adequate for use in the classrooms.

Visitors at the school are photographed by the web cam, and information provided in the office at sign-in generates a photo and ID badge.

James said the system will also be used, if needed, when police investigators need to verify the identity of a visitor should a problem arise on campus.

"That's one thing we hope won't have happen, but it's a feeling of comfort to have that net beneath you,"

To date, school officials report no major complaints have been received from either program.

Hudson said there is potential for expanding the Alert Now program to have the recorded message delivered in Spanish.