June 2007 — News
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Whittier Union HSD Links Parents, Teachers
Another plus: TeleParent uses its own phone lines, not the district's, Olsen said, "so the message goes out a lot quicker." Whittier's separate automated attendance system, which phones parents when a student is absent, requires four to six dedicated lines, depending on the size of the high school, and can take hours of calling. "It takes a lot [less time] to get a message out when you're using hundreds of different lines," as TeleParent does, Olsen said.
Purchase of TeleParent was triggered by a survey during the 2005-2006 school year in which parents asked for more communication between school and home, especially about their child's day to day academic activities, overall progress, and behavior in class. Administrators and teachers wanted more interaction with parents as well.
Rolling out the new product at the beginning of the school year was fairly simple. The district piloted TeleParent at one high school during the summer, when attendance is critical because one semester is condensed into six weeks of summer school. At the district's request, TeleParent customized its message bank so that parents could be notified immediately of a student absence. Based on that pilot, Whittier rolled out the system district-wide at the beginning of the school year.
The system's cost is about four dollars per student; funding for the first year has come from a block grant. Feedback from parents and teachers has been so positive, Olsen said, that the district plans to continue with the system. "At four dollars a student, it's really [equal to] the cost of a few mailings," Olsen said. Written failure notices still must be sent, by law, "but [TeleParent] can prevent things from getting to that point."
Use of TeleParent is voluntary, but some 85 percent of teachers in the Whittier district have used it at some point during the school year. Based on positive comments from parents and teachers, and high product use, Olsen said the district plans to continue to pay for the product. "We re-prioritized some of our funding and will still be paying for all of it at the district [level]."
In fact, reception has been so positive, Olsen said, that teachers have called and thanked her for the new system--a rare occurrence indeed when a new technology is introduced.
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About the author: Linda L. Briggs is a freelance writer based in San Diego, CA.
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