ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 21, 1997 TAG: 9701210060
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: reporter's notebook
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE
Remember the homework hot line?
The innovative technology that would bridge the gap between school and home by allowing parents to check on homework assignments via phone messages? The system that cost Montgomery County schools one-quarter of what it normally would have, but required $50,000 from donations?
Well, it's happening, but more slowly and less extensively than originally planned. Tele-Works Inc., a Blacksburg-based communications company, approached the school system two years ago. It wanted to test new software and update a system used first in Pulaski County.
In return, the school system had to pay just $5,500 for a $200,000 communications system where parents use a special code to hear messages from their child's teacher.
Many parents were thrilled. Using phone messages wouldn't be as effective as face-to-face conferences, but it was a step in improving communications between busy parents and teachers.
Tele-Works and school employees raised $37,000 in donations from local businesses and families for the project.
Some teachers complained that the system would add one more time-consuming project to an already hectic day. Once the system was up and running in December 1994, most teachers agreed it took only a few minutes.
Elementary schools began the project that December, and by June 1995, 36,000 calls were recorded. For the 4,400 children in Montgomery County elementary schools, that averaged out to more than five calls per child.
But this school year, use of the hot line in elementary schools dwindled, and the middle and high schools still had no system, as had been planned.
So, what's happening now? After a mixture of technical problems and human goofs, there are finally some solutions.
Assistant Superintendent John Martin said he neglected to remind elementary school principals and teachers to use the hot line. Consequently, many teachers don't use it regularly.
As for the rest of the schools, Tele-Works' Steve Critchfield said he realized the updated system would not work with the new Microsoft Windows program. It's a glitch on Microsoft's end, he said, but could take years to fix.
So, Tele-Works opted to use the more-reliable, but less-innovative old system used in Pulaski County. The hot line could have been working by October, except that an identification number glitch held them up. (The system wouldn't take the student's nine-digit identification number until a wise group of school system employees figured out a way to fool the computers.)
Now, Martin said he's aiming for March to install the hot line at one school. If all goes well, all the middle and high schools will be able to use it by May.
But, the system does not offer all the features some parents had hoped it would. Teachers cannot leave individual messages to parents, saying things like "John has not turned in his homework." Nor can the system be programmed to call parents, reminding them of upcoming events or alerting them to an emergency.
The hot line can do all those things - and even send faxes to parents who have access to a machine - but Critchfield said it's up to the school system to implement it.
And, he said, there's still about $18,000 to raise in funds. That can wait, he said, until all the schools are connected.
For now, he said, he's just glad to have it on track again.
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