With a pager, you won't miss those important calls

By Sheldon K. Smith

As a dean of students responsible for the supervision of 950 junior high school students, I was searching for a way to make those hours of supervision more productive. When I was out of my office dealing with students, I would miss telephone calls. I was concerned that a parent might be waiting for me, but no one could reach me. I carried a portable radio but I didn't like it. Often, I was out of range. Even when I was in range, the radio didn't get clear reception. And I could not slip into a classroom and use it quietly--it squawked and screeched when it was turned on.

I considered using a cellular phone as an alternative, but that option was too expensive. Then I noticed our school resource officer wore a pager, even though he, too, carried a portable radio in his belt. He used the pager so he could turn his radio off during classroom presentations and also so his own kids could reach him. I decided to look into getting a pager for myself.

Paging technology has been available for more than a decade. The technology is relatively simple: Most pager users carry a small device that receives telephone numbers. Someone who needs to talk to you calls a phone number assigned by the paging company. After a voice or beeper prompt, the person keys in a phone number, then hangs up. The paging service then sends a signal to your pager. Some pagers just beep, but others send a voice message, a phone number, or even complete text messages. But whatever kind you have, you can leave your office and still be reached when you're needed.

Choosing the right pager

During my search for pagers, I looked into various services. Some paging services are inexpensive but limited in what they do. Some are professional, while others seem like fly-by-night operations. It's essential, I've found, to choose a good service because it can upgrade your pager as your needs change and technology evolves.

The pager I chose displays alphanumeric messages on a small screen. By checking the messages, I can determine which ones I need to act on right away. Some pagers also offer a larger screen that displays four lines at a time.

Both types of pagers have a vibration setting to signal that a page is waiting to be read, an option that makes them ideal for a school setting. I alone know when the pager is going off, so I can go into classrooms or meetings and not have everything come to a standstill when I get paged.

When my secretaries need to reach me, they use the basic beeper number. I know to come to the office when I see the school phone number on the pager screen. They know to enter "1111" if they need me urgently. With the pager, I can keep phone tag to a minimum. If I'm expecting a call while I'm visiting classrooms, the secretary puts the person on hold, pages me, and I come to the office to take the call. This system works well.

Ken Peterson, a vice principal at Ray A. Kroc Middle School in San Diego uses his pager in a similar way. He sets it to vibrate whenever he carries it. When it vibrates, he knows to return to the office. "I really like it because it allows me to get more involved with technology in the classrooms and labs without getting a lot of heat for hiding where no one can find me," says Peterson.

To make sure I can always be found, I wrote my pager numbers and paging instructions on a small piece of paper, then made copies and laminated them for other school officials. The laminated paper is small enough to fit under a standard telephone receiver.

Choosing the right service

Paging services are as plentiful as pager models. I have used "dispatch service" to transpose messages and send them to my pager. A dispatch service is the paging industry's term for an answering service similar to the ones used by the medical community. The dispatch service answers the phone and transposes the message into a computer terminal. After the message is given, the dispatcher sends the message to the subscriber's page.

The dispatch service is beneficial because of its speed. As soon as the caller hangs up, the message is sent to the pager. Despite its speed, however, this service has its drawbacks. My secretaries didn't like talking to another person to reach me. The operator, trying to make the service accurate, would ask clarification questions, which my secretaries sometimes did not have the time or the patience to answer. Sending a simple message such as "Mr. Smith is needed in the office immediately" was sometimes a cumbersome and time-consuming affair.

These days, I use voice mail with a paging option. Like regular voice mail, this service is automated with my personal greeting. A person calls my voice mail number and hears my directions for leaving a message. After the caller hangs up, the device flags the dispatch operator, who listens to the message, transposes it, and sends it to my pager. This service has some advantages: Messages are saved in their original form in case I miss a page. And parents can reach me after school hours without interrupting me at home. But it has a drawback: There could be a delay of up to 15 minutes in sending the message because of the time it takes the dispatcher to listen, transpose, and send.

Bells and whistles

Pagers can be made even more versatile using special software or services. For example, I created a paging server with an old Macintosh SE and a modem. Using PageNOW paging software, I have my computer remind me of meetings by paging me. The night before a workday, I type in reminders and meeting times. During the day, the Mac SE pages me with reminders. Using this system, I haven't missed a single meeting. And the software can send the same message to more than one pager, keeping track of all the pager users so secretaries can send individual messages to each user even if they are using different services.

Another new twist is two-way paging, which allows you to send a message back to the paging service using your pager. With two-way paging, the person trying to reach you is able to confirm that you've received the page. The service will continue paging until you send a confirmation message back to the service. SkyTel, for example, offers this service using a pager that's a little thicker than the ordinary pager. You can send one of 16 programmed responses back to the service.

Two-way paging does have its disadvantages, though. It's only available in about 1,300 cities but the coverage area is growing. Also, it's more expensive than the regular paging service.

Students can't; we can

Some of my colleagues have asked whether it's appropriate to carry a pager on a school campus. In most states, including California, it's illegal for minors to have pagers at school. These laws seek to prevent drug dealers from contacting customers and "runners" while they are in school. Tony Hines, assistant principal of Rockledge High School in Rockledge, Fla., says his school board has banned pagers. School officials are instructed to take student pagers, lock them in a safe, and keep them until the students' parents come to school.

"The original directive was in order to keep drug dealers from having access to our classrooms," says Hines. "It was also to keep classroom interruptions to a minimum." To parents who give their children pagers, Hines says: "If their children are where they are supposed to be, we will have no problem getting a message to them." Rockledge teachers are also not permitted to display pagers or take pages during class time.

At my school, the situation is similar. I routinely confiscate pagers from my students and give them back to parents. I tell parents to wear the pager instead and have the child page them from our phones.

When I confiscate a pager, students will say, "Hey, you're wearing a pager. How come I can't have one?" My stock reply is that although it's illegal for students to use pagers on campus, it's perfectly legal for adults. The pager falls in the same category as radios, walkie-talkies, and headphones--students may not possess them on campus, but adults may.

-- Sheldon K. Smith is dean of students at Atascadero Junior High school in Atascadero, Calif. He is also a state "telementor" in charge of telecommunications training in his county.