Today, many businesses and schools use automated response systems.
This saves the institution time training staff, but it does so with the loss
of the personal touch. A school should not use such a system, which only
frustrates callers. It is worth the effort to train staff so that all phone calls
are answered by a human being.
Related to the first impressions created by the response to telephone
calls, is the first impression created by the security staff that greets visitors
to the school. For safety reasons, all visitors in New York City schools
have to sign in, show identification, and then indicate which office they
wish to visit. In today’s world this is becoming the norm rather than the
exception in many school districts.
The principal or his designee should train security staff. They should
greet visitors with a smile and a pleasant greeting. They should calmly
explain the school’s security procedures. Sometimes visitors balk at
showing an ID. The security officer needs to explain that this is a district
requirement, designed to protect the students and staff of the school. The
security staff also needs to be familiar with the functions of the various
school offices. If a visitor does not know which office he or she needs to
go to, the security officer should be able to listen to the visitor’s descrip-
tion of the problem or issue and direct him or her appropriately.
Name of caller (spell the name correctly) _______________________
Phone number of caller (with area code) ______________________________
Date _____________________ Time of call ___________________
Message:Please read back the information to the caller to make sure everything you wrote is correct.Figure 12.1. Message-Taking Form
162 Chapter 12