Every Kid’s Worst Nightmare : An Orange County school introduces a worthwhile voice-mail innovation

An Irvine school is the first in California to apply new-age technology to an age-old problem: getting children to do their homework every night. With the installation several weeks ago of a voice-mail system, Los Naranjos Elementary School allows parents with touch-tone telephones to call in, enter a numerical code and hear their children’s teachers tell what was taught in class that day, what parents can do to reinforce the lessons and what homework students are expected to complete.

The simple idea of using voice-mail this way makes sense, especially in this era of the non-traditional family (single parents or both parents working). These short recordings provide up-to-date information that is accessible night or day. One mother who works a night shift calls the system in the wee hours and schedules time to go over homework with her children before breakfast.

Principal Bruce Baron believes that the voice-mail system helps stop another age-old problem, the inevitable downward spiral to a conversation that begins when parents ask their children what they did in school that day and are told, “Nothing.” Now parents instead can ask a leading question, such as, “I understand you talked about Mayan Indians today.”

Other schools in Southern California are appraising voice-mail, including ones in Burbank, Long Beach and Yorba Linda. As an added benefit, messages can be programmed in many languages, a caller-friendly way for non-English speaking parents to keep informed about their children’s school day.

From 250 to 420 calls are received daily at Los Naranjos, where about one-third of the students are minorities. Already, teachers have noticed that students come to school better prepared. If they follow the pattern of schools with similar voice-mail systems in other parts of the country, their grades will go up as well. That’s because parent participation greatly affects student success. Other schools can benefit from this approach, too.