Dialing machines cut truancy
When schoolchildren at Southern California's Antelope Valley High play hooky, they often are in hot water by bedtime. Every afternoon at 5:15 the school's computer begins phoning 30-second reports to the parents of youngsters who have skipped class that day. After a year of operation, the machine has helped bring down the truancy rate by 64%.
Principal Dale Johnson adapted the computerized tattletale from a similar device used by Sears, Roebuck to call customers. Some 50 school districts across the country have expressed interest in the gadget; the New York City and Chicago school systems recently purchased at...
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