Hopkins County Schools has switched to a new calling system that offers parents more ways to receive communications from the district. Infinite Campus Messenger with Voice is in use for the start of the school year. "We had a lot of parents who wanted to add cell phone numbers, text or e-mail for their notifications," said Hopkins County Schools’ Director of Technology Shari Winstead. With the new system, they’ll be able to do this. Infinite Campus Messenger with Voice is also expected to be more efficient for the Information Technol-ogy Department. "From an IT perspective, the best thing about this system is that there are no imports/exports to or from third-party products," Winstead said. "As soon as we get the information into Infinite Campus, calls, e-mails and texts can go out without waiting for an upload/download or the possibility of a fail point." The system will allow educators to set up automated messages providing emergency and outreach calls, as well as notifications of failing grades, missing assignments and behavior. "Parents can get notified by whatever means they choose in the portal," Winstead said. "They will also notice that when they log into the parent portal, they can see messages sent in their ‘process inbox’ in case they missed a call or would like to review a message. "This new system gives parents more control over their communications," she said. To update their preferences, parents/guardians should go to "contact preferences" in their online Parent Portal account. Parents/guardians who do not already have a Parent Portal account may learn more at www.hopkins.kyschools.us/portal.