i just started on this website - it is great for information. A question I have for JHB regarding the electronic transfer of student information for the directory - is there any confidentiality issue with you seeing the information that is supposed to be "withheld"? Even though you edit it out for the final printing of the directory.
I did the directory for our elementary school this year and had to manually input info to a database for 500 kids. The school wouldn't give me the info electronically due to confidentiality.
We too have a directory. We have also added the snow schedule that includes all the TV and radio stations that we use to announce school closings. We do offer two address for those who require such. And, this year we added two new items...1. EMAIL addresses 2. An idex in the back where you can look up someone by last name, then you are directed to the page.
A million years ago when I was a new, kindergarten parent, I would know the name of the person I needed to contact, but not the age or grade of their children. I would have to thumb through every class until I found them. The index will make things much easier.
We use the opt out method at our school. Individual schools in the school system used to come up with their own forms, but this year the school system came up with a whole package of stuff you could opt out of. There's a whole lot more here than you need, but if you want some opt-out form wording for the directory, check out pages 2,3,5 and 6 here:
On the merge printing of a customized letter for each child, it's actually less costly than you would think. Note - our school has a laser printer in the resource room.
For example, let's consider a low end ($300) laser B&W printer that uses an $80 cartridge with a 2500 avg page life. For 500 letters, it's only $16 in ink plus a ream of paper ($4).
And we wrote really skimpy letters, no graphics, so inkwise, it was probably only half a page.
The previous year, we posted a master for a week, encouraged parents to check it, AND had a volunteer stay at school two evenings for working parents. One of our most active volunteers never looked at it, and her phone number was mistyped. I would have paid $20 bucks myself just NOT to post the master again!
This was a 30 minute process and really effective. Merging can be a little intimidating at first, but it's really not hard.
I'm all for keeping private whatever information a parent deems confidential. Some families are in unique circumstances, some just like privacy.
Even so, it's amazing the "special requests", some not very well thought out. Our parents can choose to allow all or elminate certain pieces (child's name, parents' names, address, phone,) and they are listed by teacher/grade.
Here were two of the odder ones (neither were new parents, they had gotten directories before):
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One parent wanted their child in the directory, but we could only list the child's LAST name and phone number. She did not want the grade or teacher listed. (Not possible since ours are organized by grade.)</font>
One INSISTED that she wanted her child's phone number listed, but nothing else (no child or parent name). I had to explain to her that a phone number all by itself wouldn't be very useful.</font>
Our form asks parents with unlisted phone numbers if we can print the # in the directory. We don't specifically give families the chance to opt out completely, but I suppose there may be isolated cases where parents request to be ommitted. Like JHB, we start with the data from the school's computer - one address per child. This year we've already seen several requests by parents who want two addresses listed for their child. I don't envy the Directory Chair on this one. Could get complicated.
I like JHB's suggestion about sending home a confirmation form, but we'd need to figure out an easy way to print 700 unique letters. It's not the technology that's a problem, it's the printers!
FYI: In addition to their addresses/phone #, we also include several informational pages such as PTO meeting dates, officers, Board of Education officers, school calendar, key phone numbers, etc. We sell advertising in the community which often pays for about half the printing costs.
In the past, anyone who paid PTO dues ($10) got a directory and a note to school pad. This year we have eliminated dues (all parents and teachers are automatically members) and are selling a Family Back to School Kit for $12. The kit includes our directory (which won't be finished until mid to late October), a notepad, 20 pre-printed envelopes for sending money or important notes to school, a calendar magnet, and a sturdy folder. So far, we have gotten very good feedback.
