allowed "posters", all administrators. Anyone not in that group must
submit the message to one of us to send. Ultimately, any questionable
messages are run by the Head Master.=20
We're trying to balance the need to distribute timely information
against sending out so much that important information gets lost in the
crush.=20
I've found --
1. some parents live by their email and want more, more, more, while
others want just the facts
2. I've had to limit parent groups to ONE message about their meeting
which I preface with a "Kindly mark your calendars. No other reminders
will be sent." We literally had groups that wanted me to mail out "Five
days until the Parent Meeting."..."Four days until the Parent
Meeting"...!!
3 Some parents complain if all they get are fundraising reminders. One
year we allowed the organizer of the Parent Auction to send out emails.
He sent so many that the parnets really complained. Learned a lesson
there.
4. We never distribute attached files. If need be, we post them to our
website and send a link in the message body.
5. We send the messages from a generic account which has an automated
reply message so if you reply to it you get a "Sorry. You replied to an
email address that is not monitored. Please direct your question to the
appropriate person..." type of message.
6. I monitor it and try to balance the number so we aren't sending too
many to flood people's mailboxes. We probably send an average of 8-12
per week.
7. I am pretty strict with parent groups about editing their messages. I
will not send a "Whoops -- correction" message unless it is really,
really necessary, like the wrong date.=20
8. If the meeting or event is not yet on our master calendar, no
messages go out.=20
We use Connect-Ed phone system for emergency messages to families. I
usually follow up with an email but the phone is our first emergency
strategy.
Cathy Meany
Boston Latin School
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Lorri Carroll
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 1:08 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: emailing parents
Just wondering if any of you have a policy about using school email to
send broadcast messages to parents--
do you limit who can send these messages? If so, who does?
is there an approval process for these types of messages if they come
from teachers or parents' association?=20
do you have a limit to how many and how often they can be sent?
any info is appreciated.=20
Thanks!
Lorri Carroll
Director of Technology
Hamden Hall Country Day School
1108 Whitney Avenue
Hamden, CT 06517
lcarroll@hamdenhall.org
(203)752-2606
cell (203) 215-9833
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ] Submissions to
ISED-L are released under a Creative Commons license.
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a Creative Commons license.
