New technology brings classrooms much closer to home, parents




HIGH TECH--Agoura High math teacher Joe Keays communicates with parents via the Internet.

HIGH TECH–Agoura High math teacher Joe Keays communicates with parents via the Internet.


By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

One day last spring, principal Craig Ritter of University Park Elementary School in Irvine learned that an attempted kidnapping had just taken place in his community.


Police told the Irvine school district to put students, faculty and staff on immediate alert, and within minutes Ritter had sent a telephone message to the parents of each of his 650 students warning them that there might be suspects on the loose.


PACE, the emergency home calling system that Ritter activated, is one of several powerful new technology tools helping to revolutionize school-to-home communications.


Thanks to the Internet, parents also have the ability to visit Johnny’s classroom online and receive instant updates on how he’s performing.


In the world of tomorrow, parents and schools are never more than a mouse-click apart, something unheard of until recently.


In just 60 seconds, for example, the Internet-linked PACE (Partnership for Academic and Community Excellence) can deliver a 30-second message to 4,000 different telephone numbers.


The new technology represents a sharp improvement over existing systems in which outgoing school messages take hours—sometimes days—to be delivered.


In response to parental concerns following the Sept. 11 tragedy, A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas became the first school locally to install PACE.


The desire for better emergency communications goes back to an incident on the campus several years ago. During the Topanga fire of 1996, A.E. Wright students were taken to Agoura High School for safety, but many parents were unaware of the transfer and went looking for their children at the middle school campus instead.


In one of her messages to parents last year, former principal Mary Sistrunk said a program like PACE could have prevented the confusion.


"We explained to the parents that if they were to hear we had a fire or emergency of some sort—before they leave to go to A.E. Wright—to call home and listen to their message," Sistrunk said.


In the wake of 9-11, parents renewed their push for better school-to-home communications.


Sistrunk initially turned down PACE’s overtures, citing the cost. The company, however, enlisted the sponsorship of real estate broker Coldwell Banker and the system was installed at the school last January. Financial support came from Coldwell agents Nona Green, Lisa Parrot and Neil Clemow.


Sistrunk said that under the arrangement, the school is given only one call per month at a cost of about $600. Despite the expense, "it’s been a great help," Sistrunk said.


PACE officials said their service cannot be interrupted by "phone zappers," devices that screen incoming calls.


To activate the system, a school administrator calls a special number and records a message, then goes to the PACE Website to establish certain call parameters. A message, for example, might be sent to the entire student body or seventh-graders only.


"Parents really appreciate the timely information about school events," said Marshall Abbott, PACE chief executive officer.


More than 150 schools nationwide currently use PACE. Local customers include not only A.E. Wright in Las Virgenes Unified School District, but also Westlake Elementary School and Maple Elementary School in the Conejo district. La Reina High School, a private school in Thousand Oaks, uses the service, too.


Unlike PACE, which controls Internet access to more than 2,000 phone lines, the automated dialing systems at Agoura High School and Calabasas High School use only two or three lines to deliver messages.


"It takes about three days, depending on how long the outgoing message is, but we try to make it as short as possible," said Michelle Garrison, the attendance secretary at Calabasas.


Garrison uses an auto-dialer called PhoneMaster—primarily to inform parents if their children have been absent without an excuse.


Agoura High School principal Larry Misel said the use of automatic dialing has helped increase student attendance.


"When a kid is not here, it gets fed in and the dialer goes ahead and notifies the parents, tells us if an answering machine answers it, if it’s a hang-up or any of that sort of thing, so it’s a complete log," Misel said.


When it’s necessary to send messages to the entire student body—about 1,800 students in the case of Calabasas—the calling begins in the morning, runs throughout the day and ceases around 8 p.m., Garrison said.


Virtual classroom


High-speed dialers aren’t the only improvements in the field of school-to-home communications. Many teachers have begun using their own Websites to give students and parents instant access to grades, homework assignments and special announcements.


Misel said he wants all the Agoura High teachers to be online by November.


Joe Keays is an Agoura math teacher who operates a virtual classroom at the Website www.lvusd.k12.ca.us/agourastaff/keays/default.htm. Keays said he relies on the Internet now more than ever.


"In my opinion, it’s the only way to do business with parents," Keays said. "Everyone is busy and seems to have a computer at home and access to the Internet. It’s an efficient way to communicate."


Two to three days before giving a test, Keays will send an e-mail encouraging parents to get involved in their child’s preparation.


"I’ve given the parents the power that they know what’s going on at the school," he said. "The parents can see how well or poorly their son or daughter is doing. That night [they might] have a conversation."


Keays uses a program called MicroGrade to list test results, administer homework assignments and demonstrate grading curves. Each class and each period has its own link on the Website. Students and parents use individual passwords to access the information they need.


"All the homework for the entire year is one there, so if someone misses a day, they click on class notes and get the assignment they need," Keays said.


On the Web page set up by English and humanities teacher Nan Cano, there are several helpful links pertaining to what the students are studying.


Government and sociology teacher Andrerw Staiano (www.staianoland.com) offers an online class syllabus, plus charts, graphics and assignments.


"So many kids are so computer literate now they can’t do anything without it," Staiano said. "You have to jump in and kind of use it to bring them back into the classroom and get focused on what they need to do."


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