It used to be every time school secretary Beverly Joy had to make a phone call to a Spanish-speaking parent, she would pull the school's ESL teacher out of class to make the call for her.

This year, something changed -- Joy, who works at Oak Grove Elementary, decided it was time to learn a little Spanish.

As Durham schools officials turned their focus to customer service this year, several staff members realized a good start to improving school-family relations was pretty simple -- speak the same language.

It would give both the school workers and Spanish-speaking parents more confidence in communicating, and also would help relieve those ESL teachers from always being tapped for extra translating work.

So the school district arranged for a Durham Technical Community College Spanish instructor to give them lessons at the Durham Public Schools Staff Development Center on Hillandale Road.

In two-hour classes two nights a week, staff members learn to say things like, "Your child is sick. Please come pick him up," and "I need your child's Social Security number and date of birth."

Since November, nearly 30 teachers have enrolled in the month-long classes, each paying about $85 for instruction, a Spanish book designed for school workers and a CD that helps them learn pronunciation, said Kay Williams, spokeswoman for Durham Public Schools.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," said Eugenia McEntire, a secretary in the front office at Jordan High School. "But it will be very, very helpful."

In too many cases, young students who speak both Spanish and English are stuck being interpreters for their parents, which shouldn't be their responsibility, said Henrietta Scott, assistant principal at Lakewood Elementary School.

If others in the school learn to sustain basic conversations in Spanish, "it takes pressure off the child and keeps them in the classroom," said Scott. About 40 percent of the students in her school come from Spanish-speaking households, she said.

Scott is one of about 15 students currently taking the Spanish class just for Durham Public Schools employees. She and others worked in small groups in class this week, practicing simple conversation.

"What is your address?" school administrator Kelsey Lodge asked Scott in Spanish, reading from a prompt.

Instead of responding with her address, Scott read a phrase their teacher had taught her a few minutes earlier.

"What's it to you?" Scott quipped in Spanish, reading from the board at the front of the room. The class erupted in laughter.

For Scott and most other students in instructor Ann C-rdoba's class, this is the first time they've tried learning Spanish.

"Their enthusiasm has been my favorite thing, and their dedication," said C-rdoba, who has taught Spanish 30 years. "They really want to help their community."

C-rdoba also said she loves watching the thrill the staffers have when they are finally able to communicate with Spanish-speaking parents.

After just a few weeks, Joy, the secretary at Oak Grove, was able to call a child's mother and leave a phone message telling her, her daughter had a nosebleed and needed to go home.

"I went through my book and found the words for nose and bleeding," Joy said. "I left the message and said, 'OK, let's see what happens.'"

Just a few minutes later, the girl's mother showed up at the school. "She came and I said, 'You understood?'" recalled Joy. "She said, 'Si.' I was so happy."

The staff members don't get homework or tests, but on their last day of class later this month, the students will go out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, C-rdoba said. And they'll order in Spanish.