It’s a brave new world out there in the world of communication (just ask a reporter) but Montgomery High School Principal Laurie Fong is embracing it: she’s on Twitter.

Fong signed on as @MHSvikings so she can reach parents in emergency situations if traditional methods fail. Follow her to get immediate information in the case of a campus emergency.

She said the idea came to her after seeing the front page photo in the Press Democrat of nervous Rancho Cotate High parents lined up outside the school awaiting word from their students after there was a lockdown this spring (no danger was discovered in that incident).

“How would I get information out to parents in an emergency situation, up to date, immediate information – if we have no access to computers, no access to phones,” she said.

The school website needs electricity, as does the autodialer. Plus, many parents are at work while the autodialer reaches home numbers, she said.

“Kids can text their parents, but I can’t monitor what they are saying,” she said.

“I was looking at the different technology that is free,” she said. “If I’m hiding under my desk, I just get my cell phone, I dial my little Twitter number, and I say we are in lockdown, the police are on campus, whatever- if they sign their device up, any Twitter blast goes straight to their cell phone.”

Fong said she will do monthly test Tweets but other than that, will only use the service for emergencies.

“I hope I never have to use it,” she said.