Service with a smile

NEWPORT-MESA --Think of them as luxury sales people -- without the

hefty commissions.

In response to complaints that some school officials, from principals

to secretaries, were inaccessible and even rude, Supt. Robert Barbot and

the Board of Education decided to train every district employee in how to

relate better to members of the public.

The movers and the shakers in Newport-Mesa -- every principal and

every department head -- went first.

They spent Monday and Tuesday learning how to think of parents,

students, and each other as “customers.”

When school starts, principals will pass on what they’ve learned -- at

a cost of $113 per principal -- to their employees.

Their trainers, three women from the Florida-based company

AchieveGlobal, have trained phone operators for airlines and customer

service representatives for electric companies.

In other words, explained trainer Irene Berardesco, they are

well-qualified to help district employees deal with the annoyed, the

frustrated, and the downright steaming mad.

“It’s the Nordstrom’s approach,” said Newport Harbor High School

Principal Bob Boies, who added that he had picked up some tips on how to

deal politely with parents who wanted their children’s grades raised.

Boies, like many district officials, said he had heard many of the

tips before, but “it was a good refresher.”

The training included tips on how district employees could deal with

parents when they have absolutely no intention of giving them what the

want.

“You may find it’s best simply to empathize with the customer,”

employees were told. “You can say: ‘I know. That’s really disappointing.’

”

Some of the tips were as laden with strange jargon as the educational

policy manuals where school officials learn about “reading strategies.’

For example: “If the customer thinks the school has made a mistake,

start with Escalated Concern, and move to Assurance and then take

positive actions to resolve the problem.”

Huh?

What it means, district officials explained, is that school employees

should listen to a parent’s problem, act like they care, reassure the

parent that they will try to help and then come up with possible

solutions.

“It put a lot of labels on a lot of things we do anyway,” said Costa

Mesa High School Principal Andy Hernandez. “But it was good.”

Susan Despenas, the district’s head of elementary education, said,

“Principals’ response to the training had been overwhelmingly positive

and many said the training would change the way they worked with

parents.”

Jamie Castellanos, the district’s new head of secondary education,

said he, too, had heard many of the strategies before, but he had still

enjoyed the two-day training.

“You get a little daffy the second day,” he said, adding that district

officials had been asked to role-play situations with trainers pretending

to be angry parents. “But I got to meet a lot of people.”