This morning, for the first time, St. Aloysius High School students read announcements on TV screens instead of listening to them over a public address system.

“This is going to help open the communication between the office and our students and our teachers,” said principal Michele Connelly. “I think it’s phenomenal.”

The 250-student Catholic high school has gone digital as a way to cut down on classroom interruptions. Two 47-inch screens were installed Friday.

Meanwhile, the superintendent of Vicksburg Warren School District, Dr. Elizabeth Duran Swinford, said the district is moving in the same direction for its 15 schools.

“We’re setting up for it,” she said. “Some of the schools we have are too remote and the wireless network has not been set up.” However, she said, there are no current purchasing plans for the screens tekkies are calling digital signage monitors.

She said monthly newsletters are being mailed to parents to help cut back on the announcement interruptions.

Connelly said the flat-screen monitors will display rolling messages about clubs, events and general school information on a 24-hour cycle.

St. Al’s monitors are in the cafeteria and in a hallway near the library, both areas highly visible to students, she said.

This morning, students got a glimpse of the monitors for the first time.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Heather Hayes, 17, a senior and the daughter of Greg and Charlotte Hayes. “Your eyes are drawn to it.”

Fellow student, Clara Grace Turner, agreed.

“This is really helpful because some people blow off announcements,” said Clara Grace, 16, and the daughter of Mike and Renee Turner, who was chosen by the administration to put information into the program.

Connelly declined to give the cost, saying, “It was very affordable.”

She said, however, the school will use the monitors as a source of revenue when the school starts selling ads to roll across the screens.

Harry Brown of Shiers Communications Specialists in Vicksburg, which installed the equipment after school Friday, said the monitor and software can cost more than $5,000.

Connelly said she hopes to purchase more monitors for the St. Al and the elementary school.

“We want to see how the two go,” she said. “Of course, there are always plans to expand on anything that’s a success.”

Announcements at Porters Chapel Academy are broadcast over an intercom system, school secretary Suzanne Stabler said.