Phone fault creates concern for schools

There was no talking in class Wednesday afternoon -- at least not on a phone.

Phone lines at Cape Girardeau public schools stopped functioning at about 2:15 p.m., leaving the campuses unable to receive incoming or make outgoing calls for nearly two hours. Calls could still be made within the school's Plexar phone system.

"In our situation, our intercom system is separate from our phone system, so we didn't lose communication within the building itself," said Central High School principal Mike Cowan.

A one-digit keystroke error was made by an SBC technician, causing a translation problem between the computer programing used by the school's phone system and that used by SBC, said SBC spokeswoman Marcia Haskell.

"It appears we were working a service order for another customer and it was an input problem," she said. "It's very regrettable, especially for the school system. But the main thing is the problem was isolated and was fixed in less than two hours."

Haskell recognizes why some were worried about the problem.

"Under normal circumstances, this would be a minor thing. But with the issues we're having today, of course, everyone is concerned it is something serious or may have to do with a war. I think it speaks to the times we're living in. A year ago, it would not have been that critical."

Teachers and administrators used cellular phones to make outside calls and the district's portable radio system to keep in touch with other school buildings.

This was the first time since the new high school was opened that the phone service has been disabled.

The longer the loss of service, the more critical the situation can become.

"On a typical day, we will have 95 percent attendance and that means 60 to 70 calls right there just to report students absent," Cowan said. "You can only imagine the volume of calls we receive."

If even just one phone call for a student about a family crisis doesn't get through, it becomes a serious issue, said superintendent Mark Bowles.

With the land-line phones and faxes, the radio system and personal cell phones, the district has at least three pipelines of communication.

"If all three go down, there would have to be a colossal type of catastrophe that went down for which there would be no way to prepare," Bowles said.

However, there is one more contingency plan to keep communication going between schools and with the outside world, Cowan said.

"We have our school resource officer, Sgt. Barry Hovis, who has a connection to the city's police and fire," Cowan said. "He has enough communication devices strapped to his belt he could start a minor company."

mwells@semissourian.com

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