If you even THINK you might have to call Wilmington area schools in the near future, here’s the number: 656-8866.

Whatever you do, don’t lose it, because it’s pretty hard to find it anywhere else.

A month ago, schools Superintendent Michael Hink reported that Verizon had erroneously listed the individual schools’ old telephone numbers in its 2001-02 telephone book, instead of the new number used for the whole district.

Monday night, school Director Steve Warner said that mistake had affected a number of people who couldn’t reach the high school office last week to find out how to buy tickets for the school’s musical, "Oklahoma." When they called the number listed, Warner said, they got a recording saying the number was no longer in service.

Calls to information were no help either -- or at least no consistent help. Some people reported that 411 gave the old telephone number and 555-1212 gave the correct one. Others said both services had it wrong. Herald phone calls Monday night to 411 and 555-1212 both yielded the wrong number; in fact, the 411 operator couldn’t find a listing for the high school, but offered telephone numbers for the elementary schools -- all of them the old, incorrect numbers.

Maintenance supervisor Steve Singer said he had contacted Verizon, and the phone company had "absolutely refused" to install a recording that would direct callers to the correct number. That recording had been in place last year when people dialed the old number, but Singer said Verizon officials told him it was removed because it had been more than a year since the number was changed. Singer said repeated efforts by school officials to get the problem solved were frustrated by GTE and Bell Atlantic blaming each other for the mess -- even though both are now part of the same company, Verizon.