This article discusses how the H1N1 flu pandemic served notice to districts to get their disaster readiness strategies in order and how technology played an important part in schools effort. In late April 2010, as public fears about a mysterious new strain of flu grew, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) moved to forestall a panic. On Monday, April 27, just after US health officials declared a public emergency, calls flooded district phone line from parents who wanted to know if schools were closed and if their children were safe. with the help of the Blackboard Connect platform, the country's second-biggest school district contacted more than 713,000 parents, educators, and administrators, assuring recipients that the schools had no known cases of swine flu, custodians were washing sites more frequently, and officials were working closely with the local public health department. That same week, K-12 school districts sent out roughly 3.9 million swine flue outreach messages over Blackboard Connect--by home phone, cell phone, text message, and e-mail--at the height of the initial concern. The district's response to the H1N1 outbreak is a prime instance of how technology has become instrumental to administrator's efforts to stay on top of their staff and students' health and safety.