What's All the Calling About?

Discussions are already being heard throughout the halls and classrooms of King this week about the receiving of automated calls at home regarding issues of classroom behavior and notifications of upcoming assignments.  Even an occasional note is being heard out about grade progress.  What has everyone talking?  TeleParent.

             On Monday, King’s faculty was introduced to a new technology, TeleParent, which allows the sending of pre-recorded messages to every student, every night.  These messages range from comments about grades and citizenship to informational prompts about upcoming tests, homework, and projects.  The reason: to create more frequent contact between the school and home than the conventional mailed progress report.

            This new courtesy is beginning to raise questions by parents who are not yet familiar with what to expect from the system.  Use of TeleParent at this point is optional on a teacher-by-teacher basis.  Some teachers may use the system daily, whereas others may only use it sparingly.  Parents should, however, expect more frequent communication from the school regarding students via this system. 

One common misunderstanding with the calls is the requirement to listen to the entire message that is received.  The system identifies a hang up mid-call as a way of evading the system’s effectiveness.  Hanging up mid-message will cause the system to call again until the message is played in full.  Should you wish to replay the message, simply press ‘1’ and the message will repeat.

            It is important to remember that the usefulness of this new technology will only succeed with parents and teachers working together (teachers sending messages and parents listening to them).  Any questions about comments generated from the system should be directed to the teacher of the period that sent the message.  Each message is coded with both comment and period.

            Until the end of the year TeleParent will be a pilot, a time for the school to acclimate to this powerful communication tool.  Next year the system will take a greater role in allowing frequent contact between home and school.  Training is scheduled in the near future for the administration to consider additional comments such as notification of detention, Saturday school, and fines.

            King’s adoption of this new program is a further step forward in building an even stronger link between school and home.  So remember, when the phone rings tonight please pick up… it’s your student’s success calling.

James Schauer
Department of Language Arts