I am the Co-President at my son's elementary school. We set up a Facebook page at the beginning of the year. We made it private so that only approved members could look at any of the information. We also ensured that the Secretary, myself and the other Co-President were administrators of the group and we checked it frequently throughout the day.
We then mentioned it to our Principal that we had gone ahead and set it up. She was very worried about the privacy issues and what if someone wrote something detrimental about the teachers etc. We managed to persuade her to give it a go and see what happens.
One week later she came back to us after speaking with her boss at the school board who told us that we had to shut it down immediately.
It was a shame, because we had managed to get about 50 parents as members and it was a great way for us to advertise for volunteers etc.
I do not think a PTO should have a normal Facebook page, but I am unsure of how the business pages work. I do think it would be great if school info was in my newsfeed I am addicted to, but really I can get the same info from the schools webpage or reading the notes sent home.
Groups on FB can be made private so that no one can see them. I have created and been members of several groups like this. It's the best way to avoid strangers getting any information, but allows for members to discuss pertinent issues, share photos, etc. Members must be invited or approved by an administrator. You can set it so that only admins can upload pics too. So there are definitely options on FB that could help create community without sacrificing the security or privacy of students and parents.
As the mother of two elementary aged students, a user of facebook, and as a PTO leader, I am totally against a PTO/PTA group starting a page on facebook. Starting a FB page for a group that represents children that are not even old enough to have a FB page shows bad judgement on the group of adults. Safety of your students, not just commincation to parents, should also be a priority of your group. Sure you can turn off the option to post pics but what about posting anything about events where your students might be attending. Most of us do NOT know every parent, aunt, uncle, or grandparent of every student that has ever gone to our children's schools, as stated in a previous post. So whomever the administrator is of the FB account they are going to either have an open page, where anyone can join or approve every person that wants to join. Thus letting every pervert out there have the ability to see the date, time, and place of where your children might be attending one of your groups events. That is bad judgement on your groups part and your putting all of our children at risk. I plan on addressing this issue with our principal and school board. The safety of all of our children should be a priority for all of our PTO/PTA leaders.
Our PTO group is giving it a try. Facebook is always great to get information to out to the parents. What better way is there to promote the group?
We'll see how it all works out. It is an advertising tool for our 5K run, and other events, plus a way to share the great accomplishments of the group.
I really like the idea of a Facebook page for our PTO. I have thought of this in the past but have yet to act on it. Currently, we get info to our students through letters home, automated phone calls, banners around the school, emails and a website that I created.
I had noticed that the one form of communication that we don't provide is some sort of "chat" for the parents. Something informal. Yes, they can email and directly talk to us but... as I'm sure you all know, there is a lot of info to get just from general talk!
I'll keep you all updated on what we do with the Facebook thing.
Oh, and I would definately block photos etc... just to be safe.
but really I can get the same info from the schools webpage or reading the notes sent home. 