Expanded Use of Voice-Mail System Approved

PASADENA AREA SCHOOLS —  The Board of Education on Tuesday approved a recommendation to allow Pasadena Unified schools to begin using computerized voice-mail systems like those used by businesses.

A voice-mail system now at John Muir High School will be permanently extended free to its four feeder elementary schools--Longfellow, Cleveland, Willard and Jackson. The service will be donated by QuickNet, a Van Nuys telecommunications firm that hopes eventually to get a contract for the whole district, said owner Jerry Chien.

QuickNet, which approached the district with the Muir system, has proposed a plan that would include other schools. But the board action gives schools the option of contracting with other firms or choosing not to have voice mail. The schools can pay for voice mail through school booster funds or recreation money.

QuickNet estimated that it could provide districtwide service for less than $1,500 per month; no figures were available on individual school costs.

The district’s other high schools and junior high schools will be offered a free trial month using the system, Chien said. If they pay for service after the trial month, it will then be provided free to all of the district’s elementary schools, Chien said.

Muir’s system allows parents with touch-tone telephones who subscribe to it to call a main number, enter a numerical code and hear their children’s teacher tell them what was taught in class, what homework their children were given and in some cases even confidential counseling messages.