if she really thinks a paper newsletter is a waste of money, she needs to talk to other principals. Our parents RELY on our weekly Friday newsletter. It's the one communication tool that contains everything you need to know about what's going on/coming up in our school. We include PTO news, too, so the kids aren't bringing home loose and easily lost flyers all throughout the week. I asked about using email instead (to save production costs), but since not all of our parents have access to email, it is still printed and distributed on paper.
27 is very young to be a building principal. Presumeably she got the job because she is qualified. But like someone else said, everything about your PTO is new to her. She needs insight and education about PTOs. Give her a few copies of PTOToday magazine. Turn her on to this website (have Tim delete this thread first). And be patient. She will open up when she is ready.
We did try to talk to the new principal. My co-chair and I had a formal meeting with her and showed her the sales statistics and the impact so far on not permitting us to use the newsletter. I also discussed the mailbox with her. She insists that she is right. She also feels the paper newsletter is a waste of paper and is going to make it an email newsletter even though only about half the parents are sign up for the school's listserv.
Sounds like to me, it's time to sit down with a pot of coffee or a couple of "cokes" and talk.
What you/the PTO has always done is still new to her. Last year we had a problem with a new Asst. Principal that opposed three activites with out reason. This summer, banana bread and Starbucks in hand, we talked. Turns out, she wasn't sure what we were doing, communication wasn't there (school year ended on May 11th! CARAZY!) and felt it was just easier to tell us "no".
Talk to her....before it gets outta hand and foder for rumors.....
I think if she is saying HIPAA then she would be refering to laws enacted in April of 2001 (made a far more sweeping impact on medical information and records, sometimes a real PIA)which protects the privacy, security and integrity of medical records.
In April of 2003, all hospitals, doctors, insurance companies etc were required to be compliant, and it relates to medical information (healthcare, treatment, insurance coverage or payments and cannot be disclosed to a third party without express written consent of the patient and only to the third party identified in the consent)
I can KINDA see how maybe she got confused by this... If she only read as far as Privacy, but
are you sure she just didn't get some bad information?
If you need a description of the HIPAA privacy act for reference, you can go to a local hospital or doctors office, or from your local health insurance provider (I can fax one from my office if you CANNOT find one) for a written description of the act and what it exactly entails.
Since the mailman isn't delivering the items directly into the mail slots, I don't see how federal postal law could pertain here. I'd ask your post master at the post office about that.
Our principal also has this thing about not wanting to make parents feel obligated to do fundraisers. I have a problem with that in that: a)I'm a parent at the school, and I don't have a problem with it, b) we're not some outside source looking to make riches for ourselves--the money ultimately goes back to the kids, and c) if the parents aren't expected to support fundraisers how are they supposed the be successful? I can understand not wanting to inundate people, but in our case it's not as though we're holding a gun to their heads saying,"Buy the Cherrydale or we'll hunt you down and kill you." It's optional. It's great if you DO support it, but this is America--you do what you feel is right for you."
Our newsletter has to be approved if we're going to hand out in school--if we're doing it on our own to the neighborhoods in the school district we're off the hook as we don't use the school's EIN. We'd never release any private info, so that's not any issue.
It doesn't sound to me like she's linking this to a concern about a federal law, but about some other concern she hasn't fully expressed.
I think talking to her and trying to uncover her true objection is the key.
And remember, people's motivations are complex. It may not be that she has consciously thought this out and decided to mislead you about why she wants restrictions. She may not realize she's verbalizing one rationale but acting on another. Just talk with her.
