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The Demopolis City School System has launched a new app that is designed to help increase communication within the community.

Parents, students and all stakeholders are being encouraged to download the app that will provide notifications related to school activities and announcements, including school closures or delays.

“As a system we want to get people information quickly and this app allows us to do a lot of different things,” said Demopolis High School Principal Blaine Hathcock.

School officials are hoping communicating through the app will help as social media accounts and ever-increasing changes in phone numbers have become less reliable forms of communicating important messages.

“There are not a lot of schools using this yet, so we feel like we’re ahead of the game. It’s exciting to be able to communicate directly with all stakeholders, but they have to download the app,” Hathcock said.

The app can be found in the app store of various devices and is listed as “DCS – Demopolis City Schools.” Once downloaded onto a device, notifications can be turned on in order to receive up-to-minute announcements. In addition, the notifications can easily be adjusted to allow messages from specific schools within the system. For instance, parents can receive notifications for Westside Elementary School, but turn off notifications for Demopolis High School. All users who enable notifications will received the district-wide announcements.

“We want to be as open and transparent as possible. I thank the board of education for making the investment; it is a significant means of communicating with the public,” Hathcock said.