Teacher Hooks Up With Phone Company To Send Out Good News
A call home from school means bad news, right?
Not in Dano Beal’s class at Broadway Elementary.
Beal keeps a cellular phone in his multi-age classroom just for good-news calls home to mom and dad.
“I had had the idea for a couple of years,” Beal said, “that if a kid did really well in spelling, say, or out on playground, it would be neat if I could whip out a phone and say ‘You did really well, Rusty, why don’t you call home.”’
The phone is never used to talk about discipline problems - just celebrations. Kids make the calls from right in the classroom, with all their friends looking on.
When Beal approached AT&T with the idea last year, he had more in mind than building kids’ esteem.
He wanted to improve communication between his classroom and home. And he wanted to give his students, particularly the girls in his third- and fourth-grade class, a role model for women who work in communications and technology. Enter Judy Farless of AT&T Wireless, who has visited Beal’s class.
“Obviously, it’s been very heartwarming and lots of fun,” Farless said. “They love calling their parents, or anyone they can think of to call.”
AT&T donated a cell phone and unlimited calling time for Beal’s class. Farless also took the kids some “old broken down phones that they can pull apart.”
And she unraveled the complexities of the technology. No, they don’t use satellites for cell phones. Or phone cords, ever. Now, Beal’s kids know more than most adults about how the danged things work.
Parents like getting the calls.
“One thing that’s so funny, several of the parents (who have received calls) have said, ‘What’s wrong, what have you done?”’ Beal said. “And every single one of them come back and said, ‘That’s neat.”’
Last fall, Andy Schweikert, 9, got to call home after getting a creative writing assignment in early. His story was called “A Spider named Spie.”
Andy ended up telling the family answering machine about his triumph. But that didn’t matter in the end, because the Schweikerts now have the tape tucked away for posterity.
Beal has accumulated a file of phone numbers for other relatives that kids might want to call - grandparents, or a special aunt or uncle. This spring, Beal hopes to expand the program to create a buddy program with residents at a local nursing home.
Calling all WV alumni
West Valley High School knows its alumni are out there. The question is where.
The school is working to create an alumni association to serve as a support group for today’s students. Organizer Darlene Willmering said the first step is finding folks who want to be class representatives.
“We’re trying to get class reps for every three to four years,” Willmering said. “Most people that went to West Valley had brothers and sisters two or three years ahead or behind them.”
Planned projects include an all-school alumni get-together. No date has been set, but organizers for the alumni group will meet at 7 p.m. on Jan. 9 in the West Valley High library. For more information, call Willmering at 926-4237 or Wally Heidenson at 926-6999.
O dead Christmas tree
Members of the East Valley High School band know some folks haven’t taken care of their old, dried up Christmas trees, and they have the answer for you.
To have your tree picked up, call 926-1385 or the high school at 927-3200. A band member will call you back to arrange the pick-up, for a suggested donation of $5.
To drop your tree off, bring it to one of these locations between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday: East Valley High School, Sullivan and Wellesley; Trent Elementary, Pines and Trent; or Otis Orchards Elementary, Wellesley and Harvard. Suggested donation: $3.
Flocked trees aren’t accepted, and trees need to be free of tinsel.
Proceeds will support the 120-member band.
, DataTimes MEMO: Education Notebook is a regular feature of the Valley Voice. If you have news about an interesting program or activity at a Valley school or about the achievements of Valley students, teachers or school staff, please let us know. Write: Education Notebook, Valley Voice, 13208 E. Sprague, Spokane, WA 99216. Call: 927-2166. Fax: 927-2175.