Stay connected to parents with Google Voice

Contact is key. Our constituencies want us to be accessible. However, 24/7 access isn’t always possible, nor should it be. Chris Casal, the technology teacher & tech coordinator at PS 10 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, uses his Google Voice number on a daily basis to keep the parent-teacher line of communication open & accessible as well as a point of contact available to all members of the PS 10 community.

Google Voice (GVoice) is a free service through Google. If you are a Google Apps school or just have a GMail account, you can get a GVoice phone number by visiting https://www.google.com/voice/?setup=1#setup. If you don’t have a GMail account you can create one for free at www.gmail.com.

Here’s how it works. Google Voice lets you select a standard phone number to tie to your email account. You can have that GVoice number call multiple phones, or none. In addition, the calls & voicemails can be forwarded to your GMail inbox, an app on your smartphone or tablet, and you can reply via those methods too. GVoice takes the actual phone out of the equation and makes the concept of the phone number accessible across all modern technology platforms.

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