Staff at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton spent the day testing the school's emergency alert system, but the test was not without glitches.

Officials say the text message alerts went out smoothly, but a computer error delayed e-mails from being sent out to current students and faculty.

Additionally, one of the emergency sirens did not sound.

The school will retest the sirens Friday morning.

Faculty members say the system is vital to students' safety.

"I think it's really important for us to have the BAM alert system, because communication is so important in terms of trying to avert a crisis. If students are aware of what's going on they are able to take the necessary precautions to be safe," says school administrator Andrea Cornett-Scott.

The school says the e-mail problems have been fixed and a second test was carried out Thursday afternoon.

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