December 2005 — Features
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VoIP to the Rescue
Faced with the challenges hampering school communications nationwide, three districts forge into the 21st century with Web-based telephony.
DON’T LOOK NOW, but Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is everywhere. The technology lets users make and receive phone calls over the Internet, transporting voice traffic alongside data traffic such as instant messages (IMs) and e-mail. While the number of consumer customers using VoIP increases every week, the technology is finding its way into K-12 education as well. In the last few years, VoIP has helped many school districts save big bucks on phone charges and administrative costs, as well as improve communications across the board. In three districts in particular, Clark County School District (NV), David Douglas School District (OR), and Saugus Union School District (CA), the technology has revolutionized telecom strategies, inspiring flexibility, creativity, and connectivity in ways technologists never dreamed. These are their stories.
Staying in Touch
It’s no secret that when parents get involved in their children’s
education, the kids do better in school. Such involvement depends largely on
direct communication between parents and teachers about students’ progress.
This communication, however, can be difficult to achieve. Such was the case
at David Douglas School District (DDSD) in Portland, OR. For
years, DDSD teachers shared phones in school offices to make outbound calls,
and relied upon handwritten messages from office staff for the incoming calls
they missed. Unfortunately, this strategy overworked staff members, forced teachers
to leave their classrooms to make calls, and created delays in connecting with
parents. Simply put, it didn’t work.
In 2001, frustrations with this system led to a call for widespread improvements, and Information Systems Manager Keith Seher responded immediately. Seher looked first into expanding the district’s existing telecom infrastructure by installing new phone jacks in each classroom, but this option proved to be far too expensive. He then investigated combining the district’s existing but disparate Centrex phone networks into one. Again, this move was seen as too costly. Finally, Seher turned to Structured Communication Systems (SCS; www.structured.com), a local technology integrator, which suggested VoIP. Though skeptical at first about the technology’s performance, Seher tried it and immediately approved the switch.
