schoolsout.com is a US website that offers a unique service to parents.

This service offers US schools with a notification infrastructure to inform parents of emergencies, changes in schedule, closure e.g. due to extreme weather conditions, etc.

Offering 2 levels of service, the School’s Out Plus package costs $19.95 per annum and notifies parents by text to their cell phone, and the School’s Out Basic package informs/notifies parents by email for free.

When a school needs to inform parents it enters the notification into the School’s Out portal and this is immediately sent out to the relevant parents either by text or email depending on the level of service the parent subscribes to.

From the web-site’s Services page…

In the case of emergencies, delays, cancellations, or schedule changes for instance, you can spend hours watching TV or listening to the radio waiting to get an updated status of your child’s school. With School’s Out, you will immediately know when your child’s school has posted a notification.

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To get some idea of what it involves I looked up ‘Python tutorials’ on Google and found a really nice, easy tutorial to get started with here - http://www.sthurlow.com/python/