PTO Today

I have read a lot about school directoryies on the boards, but I am not exactly sure what this is.... explain anyone? What all is included? What's the purpose?

Our school directories are a booklet of contact information about the students. We send a form home with each student asking for address, phone number and parent name. The parents then have complete control over what, if any, information is printed about their student. I think this year we will also ask for email. For our school this is an invaluable tool for contacting parents for volunteering, class parties, etc.

We do the same thing and list all the names by class and include a teacher/staff list and important school #'s and info. Be sure to check with your district, here the schools can not be involved with the directory, it is strictly created by the PTO and it must have a disclaimer in the book itself stating so.
We also have a local printing company put it together for us so we don't have to do all the copies/sizing/stapling.

Is it expensive to have a printing company put it together for you? We have never done this before, but I think it would be a great resource for parents and PTO as well!

Our Middle School has had the traditional "printed" directory for years but this year we will be introducing a "paperless" directory. We are adding an website which will allow us to have a password protected page that will "house" our school directory. The directory will be downloadable as well. As a very active PTO we tend to generate a lot of flyers that are sent home with all the students, this prompted us to look toward moving in a "paperless" direction.

When we used to create one, volunteers collected the information and organized it into a master document. We did the kind where it's 8-1/2 x 11 paper landscaped, folded in the center and stapled with a cardstock cover to create a booklet. But I've also seen the ones that are just full page (not folded) and either stapled in the corner or along the left edge. The full page size is easier to format.

So you are bascally talking about copying and fairly rudimentary binding (i.e., stapling). We had a local printer who did it for about $1.50 per booklet.

While I understand the need to save trees, I would not permit my personal information to be posted on a website. I understand that most are password protected but still wouldn't allow it.

There is something to be said for paper formats in this particular application. On the web, each year the data will go away. If you have paper copies, you can save them from year to year. I still have copies from my kids preschool days and have used them.

Formatting these types of documents as a booklet can drive you crazy. What I did was format it on 8.5x11 paper and got 2 other moms to print copies at their offices. Cost of printing was $0. I then purchased binding combs at a local stationary store. They were not expensive, Maybe $25. I then borrowed the binding machine from school over a weekend and my husband and I put together approx. 300 directories that we labeled and delivered to school. Cost was minimal (only for the combs) and most importantly, the font I used was 10 Arial point so everyone could read it.

I also use an an Access database I created to enter the data. It's very easy to update from year to year and you only have to format the report once, you never have to do it again.

Jmus25---it is not expensive for the printing with our locally owned print shop, they give us a great discounted price. We charge $2 for each directory and more than earn our $ back. We have everything set up on computer so we can email it to them. They size it to fit the half page and do all of the copies, stapiling, folding. We use white paper with a cardstock cover that is folded in half so the book is a reasonable size. They put their business name and info on the inside back cover for a little advertising and we also include their donation on our newsletter. I have not priced this at a chain type copy center but it would be worth asking for a donation. We also have a parent who works at a print shop and they do free color fliers for us, maybe you have a parent with a print company association? Maybe with volunteers you could run it on the school copier? Good luck--they really do come in handy at home and in the car!

Sorry I put your name wrong Jmus 29!

Our Directory committee/project had three different parts:

• Gathering, proofing, creating the data
• Running an art contest for cover and section dividers
• Selling ad space

The ads more than paid the cost of the printing. The kids had a blast with the art contest. The parents loved the directory.

I still use directories from 4 or 5 years ago to look up numbers sometimes.