ROTORUA SCHOOL APP SENDS 47 MUFTI DAY NOTIFICATIONS, PARENTS LEARN GOLD COIN COSTS $2
One dad turned his phone off at notification 31 and missed his actual job. Reckons the app owes him a day's wage.
A Rotorua Central primary school's communication app pinged parents 47 times in 36 hours about a single mufti day. The final notification arrived at 6.42am to remind everyone the gold coin donation was, in fact, a gold coin.
Dad-of-two Brendan Whaitiri, who runs a concreting outfit out of Ngongotaha, said he'd pulled over on State Highway 5 because his phone wouldn't stop going. "Thought it was the missus. Thought it was the boss. Thought someone had died. Nah. It was Mrs Patterson reminding us crocs are not appropriate footwear."
The notifications included three reminders about the Wacky Hair theme, two clarifications that the theme was optional, and one retraction of the clarification. A 4.30pm message asked parents to please stop replying to the notifications.
PTA chair Felicity Brookes-Donnelly defended the volume. "We wanted to make sure no child felt left out," she said. Asked how often parents should check the app, she said "ideally, hourly."
Brendan has since muted the app. He has also missed two parent-teacher interviews and a head lice outbreak. A follow-up notification confirmed next Friday is also mufti day, but for a different reason.
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Reader Letters
Garry (Halswell)
Wouldn't have happened in '94. We had standards back then, not this furniture nonsense.
ropeable_dave
mate '94 was thirty years ago what are you on about
MumOf3_Riccarton
Honestly fair enough. Council inorganic is Thursday and my berm is a war zone anyway.
Margaret_F
Gerald would have sorted it with one phone call to the council.
BarryBishopdale
Bloody typical. And while we are at it, the council has been useless since 1987. Cyclists probably love this.
Margaret_F
Reminds me of Gerald. He would have had opinions about the pallet, I can tell you that.
couchgremlin
Lol
long_winded_garry
I remember when the whole street used to argue about whose turn it was to mow the berm and now we cannot even agree on a mattress without someone invoking the Resource Management Act for forty minutes straight like it is a royal commission.