Countywide : Homework Hot Line Has Parents’ Number

Parents need not fear when their children ask for help with their algebra because Homework Hotline is about to be hooked up to assist students struggling with math and science--from their homes.

“I think this is really exciting because it offers a service to parents and the kids that hasn’t been available before,” said Huntington Beach City School District Supt. Duane Dishno “It can be a real frustrating experience. But to talk to somebody on a one-on-one basis, it takes some of the frustrations away.”

McDonnell Douglas Aerospace in Huntington Beach is sponsoring the hot-line program in cooperation with the Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach City, Ocean View and Westminster school districts.

The toll-free hot line, which will begin in April, will be available to help students in kindergarten through 12th grades. It will be available through an 800 number from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Vicki Boatman, manager of McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Civic and Community Affairs, said neither a number for the hot line, which will have five incoming lines, nor an exact start date have been established.

Boatman said one of the company’s interests for community involvement is in math and science education to local elementary and high schools. “This is just a perfect fit for that focus area,” she said.

Company employees and retirees, along with teachers and retired teachers, will be among volunteers to take students’ calls and offer a step-by-step approach to find answers to their homework problems, Boatman said.

Boatman said volunteers won’t give out answers to questions but rather will walk them through the steps of critical thinking.

When the hot line first gets going, Boatman said, it may have a slow start. But she expects that when students and their parents know about it, phones will be ringing.

Boatman said that the company’s headquarters in St. Louis started the hot line nine years ago and that it has become a success elsewhere.

The first year of the program in the 1984-85 school year, only 55 calls were made to the hot line. During the 1991-’92 school year, there were 15,640 calls for homework help, she said.

Boatman said the company plans to eventually expand Homework Hotline countywide.

Kevin Luttrell, 30, and a McDonnell Douglas engineer, plans to volunteer his time for hot-line duty.

“I’m looking forward to taking a load off of them and making them feel better about math and science--to make it less stressful,” Luttrell said.

Peggy Hefner, a sixth- and seventh-grade science teacher at Ethel R. Dwyer Middle School in Huntington Beach, said many students could use the extra help because most parents work and may not have time to assist with homework.

Besides, Hefner said, math and science aren’t usually parents’ favorite subjects.

“For many parents, math and science seem to be the hardest to help their children with,” she said.