Live Q&As

My first question was, "When did I sign up for this?"  I never signed up for robocalls. I have since learned that there is a number to call that you can opt out of ALL communications with the district.  But all or nothing seems like overkill.

Especially since I knew about the late school day, I was a little extra peeved when I had to wake up at 4:30 to hear a message that told me that I can sleep in...

Actually, for me it was a simple calculus: What tools are at my disposal which will allow me to deal with this problem most effectively?  I could throw myself against the Prince Georges County School district bureaucracy and write an angry letter or lodge an angry phone call... or I could do this.

This seemed like the more effective use of my time. It was also coincidentally more satisfying.

To answer your question directly, no. I don't think I carried this too far. I don't plan on doing this again, because it was effective.  Hopefully I made a few people smile and think, which is a victory.

However, I would agree that the national attention to this issue IS carrying it a little far.  I think I just struck a nerve with people.

Thanks. And that was the whole point. I didn't want to get mad, I just wanted to be effective. And I think I succeeded. I'm sure that the PG County school district will not be making any more 4:30am calls. So as far as I'm concerned, it was a very effective use of my time.

Yeah, probably. :-)

I figured that the school district was just following the Golden Rule, though: They were doing to me as they would have me do to them.

Well, you can call me "vindictive," "juvenile," "childish," or any other thing you want. I wouldn't call myself vindictive. Childish? Perhaps.  Posessing sleep-deprivation-induced creativity? Perhaps.

I was looking for something low-impact that would get my point across.  I didn't do it to "get back." I did it to make sure it wouldn't happen again. It was a low-impact way to make sure that PG County would re-think their robocall policy.

Well, I can't say that this is a call to arms or anything. I try to assume the best about my elected leaders, which is why I assumed that they were following the golden rule. I'm sure they didn't mind too much...

And Shaun Dakin at StopPoliticalCalls.org does great work.

This wasn't about revenge, it was about effectiveness.  Calling the district is decidedly LESS effective.  Mirroring the district's behavior was far MORE effective.

As a side effect, it also happened to be far more satisfying.

I'm not entirely sure. I tried to make the caller  ID read "PG County Parent." But apparently it didn't work.

This is my first (and hopefully last) time robocalling, so I may have not placed a setting correctly.

Being a school administrator is a thankless job. While I personally believe that the world would be better if robocalls ceased to exist, I also recognize that some parents lack internet access, and robo calls are the only way to contact them.

My gripe isn't with robocalls in general... just robocalls at 4:30am.

I'm glad you enjoyed the 4:30am call. I was pretty sure that there are at least 3 parents in the school district who like phone calls at that time in the morning.  But for the rest of us, robocalls might be helpful, but they're more annoying than informative at 4:30am.  A little later would have been much better.

My thoughts exactly.

I also have to wonder, "Why is this news?  This is silly.  It was supposed to be silly."

Yes, I think an opt-in system would be great.  If you have to wake up at 4:30am to walk the dog, then sign up for robocalls at 4:30!

An opt-in or opt-out option would be great in a situation like this.

There is very little in life I take seriously, least of all, myself. I'd actually prefer to think about my full-time job right now.

Well, I'm glad I could make you smile (and think). That was the whole point. And hopefully the school district doesn't hate me for the rest of my life.

Although I agree, part of me wonders why this is news at all.  This is frankly a non-story as far as I'm concerned. There are much more important issues to focus on in this world. This was a silly response to a silly phone call.

Thanks. Apparently the previous angry phone calls didn't do the trick, so hopefully this will make a difference.  With any luck, it will be the last 4am phone call.

Using Google Voice to scren phone calls is great.  Unfortunately, I can never tell when a phone call is actually going to be important.  Occasionally the school district calls me with useful information. I just would prefer not to get it at 4:30 am.

There are lots of ways to get information to parents. I know that there is no silver bullet, though.  I happen to use the internet... but not all parents have access to the internet.  Some people prefer text messages, but others never check their phone.  So I understand the need for multiple contact strategies.

The school district should just make sure to use the contact methods in a reasonable manner.

School districts have the thankless job of trying to reach out to as many parents as possible, using as many media as possible. I recognize that it's hard.

Hopefully now PG County Schools know that robocalls at 4:30 in the morning are out-of bounds.  I'm sure it won't happen again.

Good point. But I didn't expect it to take on a life of it's own. Perhaps I was a little naive.

Thank you. Yes, you'll notice that the robo call doesn't contain a single bad word, or even a "jerk."  I said what I meant, and there's no need to be angry when you can say what you mean.

That would be great, except that I have five small children.  And I can't ignore them.