Just curious how many of the groups out there are using a parents email group? We started ours 3 years ago and it has been one of the best things we have done!!

It has grown from at first 30 parents to a total of 150 parents at last count. We provide a line for a parents email address when communicating with parents via surveys, sign up sheets, etc. The best source of email addresses is our initial volunteer sign up at the beginning of the year. We keep adding all year long and we also keep them up to date. Parents say they love it. We send out reminders for meetings, fundraising deadlines, volunteer needs, questions and more! The limits are endless...several parents have their home and office email added to the list. We have also sent our school supply lists to parents over the summer and often get questions from parents who might not otherwise contact us...some emails we forward on to the principal or secretary and many we answer ourselves. Our principal loves to communicate with all of the board members by email and it is a huge timesaver for all of us!!!!

posted 07-22-2002 11:56 PM
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Just curious how many of the groups out there are using a parents email group? We started ours 3 years ago and it has been one of the best things we have done!!
It has grown from at first 30 parents to a total of 150 parents at last count. We provide a line for a parents email address when communicating with parents via surveys, sign up sheets, etc. The best source of email addresses is our initial volunteer sign up at the beginning of the year. We keep adding all year long and we also keep them up to date. Parents say they love it. We send out reminders for meetings, fundraising deadlines, volunteer needs, questions and more! The limits are endless...several parents have their home and office email added to the list. We have also sent our school supply lists to parents over the summer and often get questions from parents who might not otherwise contact us...some emails we forward on to the principal or secretary and many we answer ourselves. Our principal loves to communicate with all of the board members by email and it is a huge timesaver for all of us!!!!

I use email for everything and it saves a lot of time. Last year we only sent emails to parents requesting volunteers. This year I'm going to try to also do meeting notes and surverys. I hope our turn out can be as good as yours.

We also ask for email addresses on our volunteer form. About 10% of our forms have an email address. However, as President last year, I found it a very valuable tool to communicate with my other Officers. We were doing a major reorganization and it allowed me to communicate questions and information to everyone at the same time in the same way. So much time was saved for me.

I am starting an email group for our PTO this year. I think that it will be a great additional way to get the news out for those that can't make it to the meetings and for reminders, etc.

I would like to ask those that already have a list going if they are using a list server like Yahoogroups or if they are just sending out a bulk email? I was thinking about using Yahoogroups because we really need to increase feedback and participation and I thought it would be a good way to take care of both. Let me know of any pros/cons.

Thanks,
Carrie

What a wonderful way to keep the lines of communication open! This may sound like a silly question - can you tell me how you set up your e-mail group? I already have a directory data base that includes several of our families e-mail addresses, but it has never been utilized.
Thanks
MBPTO