Consistent communication between guardians and school staff members is vital for student success. The exchange of information builds trust and helps both parties understand the student’s situation. With an average of 180 school days in a year and 6-8 hours in a school day, many conversations are bound to happen between staff and parents. Most staff choose to document these conversations for future reference.
Since parents and staff interact mostly via telephone, the parent phone log is an excellent tool for documentation purposes. The log sheet is a blank grid that typically organizes information into five basic areas: dates, times, parent name, topics of conversation, and additional comments.
Dates- the day and month the conversation happened
Times- the time that the conversation happened
Parent name- documenting the parent name and any other members of the student’s team
Topics of conversation- a few words that summarizes the interaction.
Additional comments- can be anything worth noting, next steps or be used for extra notes.
Why use a parent telephone log? Some reason include:
Knowing when something was first discussed. The log can display when an item was initially suggested and for how many cumulative conversations.
Maintaining a calling consistency with all parents. The log can show staff if they are evenly communicating with all parents in sheer call numbers.
Keeps track of positive/negative calls. Telephone calls to parents should be 50/50 when it comes to positive news (“your student did great today”) or negative news (“your student struggled in math today”). The log helps keep track.
Archives information for past school year questions. If a question about something from the previous school year arises, a phone log can show that.
Archives information for potential litigation. If a legal complaint arises against staff, documentation is crucial to prove innocence. The parent phone log can display complaint items in different ways such as: if it was ever brought up, when it was initially brought up, and the amount of calls about it.
Keeps track of calls made to student’s team. At times a student may have many stakeholders that need to be contacted such as divorced parents, probation officers, other relatives, or social workers. The log can ensure that staff won’t forget to contact someone with important information.
The logbook should permanently stay near a staff telephone. At the end of the school year, the parent telephone log should put into the student’s cumulative academic file and follow him/her to any future enrolled school.
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