It is often difficult for parents to successfully balance caring for their children with other responsibilities, especially their careers. One of the biggest challenges is finding childcare options for working parents, a task that often depends on private day cares, in-home day care providers, and even corporate childcare solutions, like employer sponsored childcare. However, creating a successful work-family balance also depends on other groups and organizations, especially local schools. Now, a school district in Indianapolis is attempting to help by live-streaming important events, allowing working parents to participate even when they have to work.
This holiday season, Stephen Decatur Elementary School in Indianapolis, Indiana streamed a live recording of their annual holiday conference, allowing parents stuck in the office to tune into the event. School administrators said that they made the choice to stream the event to help both the parents and the students: studies show that students perform better at school when their parents are involved with their education.
This isn’t the first time the school has used live-streaming technology to help parents and students: for months, students who qualify for advanced courses have been using similar programs to take courses at local middle and high schools without leaving their own school. The software even allows the student to ask for help from their teacher in real time, even though their class is actually several miles away. Now, school administrators say that they plan to use the technology to live-stream even more events in coming months. Is this an important step for those looking for better work-life balance and childcare options for working parents? Only time will tell.