I learned today that some people attended schools where this was normal. The schools I went to only had phones in the office and the teachers lounge. What was your experience?
I have one in my room currently.
None of my schools had phones in the classrooms. We had intercom systems that the teacher could use. A speaker on the wall with a button to press to call the front office and another to press when speaking. The only phones I knew of were in the front office and in the teachers lounges.
We did. I only saw it get used once or twice a year, usually to take a call from the front office or the school nurse. There was some internal numbering scheme and a certain prefix for calls to outside numbers.
The announcements also went through the same kind of phone used in the classrooms. Source: was appointed as the announcer for a year.
Addendum: If it wasn’t a private matter, the front office just paged the intercom speaker of the recipient classroom. The teacher would yell back into the speaker and it was a good day if one of us students were allowed to reply instead.
No, people would just walk over
No, but each classroom had a PA System for announcements and whatnot. It was a two-way system, the teacher could use it to page the office if needed.
This was in Ontario during the 90’s.
Yes. A common prank I did for some of my… Looser-gripped teachers was turning the phone on the hook upside down.
Not in elementary school, no. Some of my highschool teachers had phones on their desks or in their offices depending on what they did.
They weren’t landlines, though. They were connected to an internal phone network.
How else are teachers supposed to contact the office?
By going there? None of my schools had any communication line between classroom and anywhere else, except for networking in the computer rooms
A couple classrooms I was in had an intercom buzzer that either had it’s own speaker or worked with the rooms loudspeaker!
Every single classroom I was ever in had a corded phone in case they needed to contact the front office or in case of an emergency. The only exception would be gym class, or orchestra class, where the phones would probably just be in the teacher’s office ( classroom? ).
This wasn’t the 90s or 2000s, but later. I personally think it’s a pretty good idea. Even if everyone has a phone, having a backup in the classrooms just in case is useful since, unless the power goes out, you don’t have to worry about not being able.to call the outside world if your personal phone is dead.
Front office definitely had their own corded phones as well. I presume it’s the same for middle school as it was for highschool, but student office had a phone that the students could use in case they needed at my highschool as well.
Edit: the phones were normally on their desks, so messing with them wasn’t an option. We did have a PA system at every school I attended, but I don’t ever recall there being a way to respond outside of calling the front office.
The teachers I had opened the window and shouted at the office
Only in the teachers lounge.
So, if somehting happened in the classroom, teacher was alone… all alone. Long run to the main offices.
Then again, there were no cell phones or internet, so nothing ever happened and if it did they were able to keep it local.
Teachers were also different. You did not fuck with the teacher or he/she kicked your ass. This however changed during my elementary school days.
Kinda? You had to press a code to dial out, otherwise they were only good for calling the office or other classrooms.
I don’t remember any of that. When my teachers would have to speak with the office (which was rare), they would go there.
No, they just used to send one of the kids to the office, or there was a student on ‘office duty’ for the office to contact the classrooms.
A bit like carrier pigeon, but the school didn’t have to pay for bird food
Both the schools I went to and the schools I have taught at had landlines in the classroom, as well as some in the lounge and the main offices. They were all real big on parent teacher communication so that might have been a reason why.
