Parent Express Email _ new tool for PTOs and PTAs
January 16th, 2009 by Tim SullivanThought I’d take a minute to recommend our newest tool. It’s called “Parent Express Email” (we’ve been calling it PEX around the office), and I think you’re going to find it very, very helpful.
Basically, it’s a very simple (and free) tool for sending professional-looking emails to your parents. (If you want to jump ahead to the tool without reading my thoughts… you can check out Parent Express Email here. I’ll only be a little bit hurt. 
)
For years now, I’ve been very conservative about PTOs and email. But I think the time is finally right for nearly all groups to take the plunge in a big way. I wrote a column on this general topic of PTOs getting greener in our January issue.
Two big developments have changed my mind. The first is that, finally, the stats show that more than 90% of your parents likely have email access. When that number was lower, it meant that groups that went hard to email still had to do quite a bit of paper work. It was almost twice the effort. But now that email is so ubiquitous, we can eliminate a lot of our paper without losing parents. If there are still a handful of parents at school who just can’t get email, the work required to accomodate them is low enough to be manageable. It’s now a time (and paper and $$) saver instead of a time-adder.
The second big change is that the technology has gotten so much better. Sending emails with Parent Express literally couldn’t be easier. PEX uses the back-end system of the leading small business/non-profit email provider (Constant Contact), so it’s top-end stuff with great usability. The tools available 2 or 3 years ago were a good chunk more complex.
Of course, the free price-tag is nice, too. Love to hear what you think of PEX, and can’t wait to hear your success stories with it.
January 24th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
We started doing bi-weekly newsletters this fall as a way to increase communication. I used this tool for the first time this week to do our bi-weekly newsletter. The email looked so professional! It is easy to use and the reporting is excellent. I can see how many emails were sent, how many were opened, how many clicked through to any of the links and which ones they are. I’ve also added a link to our web site so parents and teachers can subscribe to the list themselves. If you are on the fence about this, I’d say give it a try.
February 8th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
This sounds like a great system and I was all set to sign up. Then something struck me. I would be storing parents’ private e-mail addresses in a third-parties’ website. Do any of you have a concern for privacy issues with that?
February 9th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Hi Eileen –
Good question as it’s always important to look at privacy policies when storing private information online. Constant Contact is the email provider for this program and they use industry standard security measures to make sure personal information is secure..
Their privacy policy is here – http://www.constantcontact.com/privacy_guarantee.jsp
We also talk about privacy in the FAQ. The full FAQ page is here – http://www.ptotoday.com/parentexpress/faq.php. I’ve cut/paste the section about privacy:
Are your email addresses and data secure in the Parent Express Email system?
Because your Parent Express Emails will be delivered by Constant Contact – a leading email provider who is aware of the latest email regulations and Spam issues – you can be confident that your Parent Express emails are secure and are getting delivered. Constant Contact takes every precaution to protect the confidentiality and security of your personal information by using industry-recognized security safeguards such as firewalls, coupled with
carefully developed security procedures to protect your information from
loss, misuse or unauthorized alteration.
Let me know if you have any other questions,
Kathryn
March 10th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I love the “flash” of this system – the inbedded links, graphics, etc…
I love the sorting features of PTO Manager – allowing emails to go just to one grade, a committee, just teachers, just board members. I can’t image giving that up.
When can we have the best of both worlds?
March 10th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Brenda,
We are working on linking the two programs. Our goal is to have something in place this summer so you have it for Back To School.
Thanks for the suggestion!