SPN Community

Using SPN as a listserve for school news

2007-01-18T09:20:00.000-08:00

There are two ways our site provides "listserve-like" functionality.

In the first case, information can be pushed to SPN users from your school. The message center allows messages to be sent to groups - you are not sending an email to a list email address, but rather you are using our internal messaging feature to reach members in SPN school groups. Messages can be sent to classroom, grade or school level groups and this makes it easy to send highly relevant messages (second screenshot in this tour). Users get an email notice when they receive a message in their SPN Inbox. In order to get these messages, parents from your school would need to sign-up to SPN and complete their school profile - they will then get messages sent to school groups.

In the second case, SPN users can pull information from either Blogs or Forums. Lets assume that under Forums/School Message Boards, you create a message board for your school (add new topic - enter your school name). SPN parent-users from your school can then set-up the "Notify me when updated" feature for this forum and they will then get an email when this specific forum is updated. Similarly parent-users can set-up notification for Blogs created by PTA members or Room Parents from your school (third screenshot in this tour). Enabling parents to pull information from various forums or blogs helps them to get access to the most relevant information. Please note that our default security settings only allow parents to view content posted by users from their own schools.

We will be happy to help you use these features - so please feel free to email us.

Blog Notification and Repeated Invites

2006-12-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

The following issues have been raised by some users and we have captured our feedback below.

Blog Notification

Some of you have pointed out that sometimes, for a blog for which you have set-up notification, you receive multiple emails when the Blog is updated. The reason for the multiple emails is that the Blog Owner created & posted a new entry and then edited the same entry multiple times (maybe added content, or changed format, etc). The notification feature sees that the specific blog database was updated and sends out a notification (for each update - even when the original post is edited). So please note that the multiple emails are generated due to edits made by the blog owner. We are looking at ways to minimize the number of email notifications you get and we appreciate your patience.

Repeated Invites

Some of you have pointed out that you receive invites even after you have signed up, and sometimes you seem to keep getting these invites. The reason for this is that you initially signed up using an invitation from a SPN user, but then subsequently another user invited you too. We are working to disable invitations to registered users. For now, the simplest thing to do is to "Reply" to the invitation email and let the SPN user know that you are already a member. Also, ask the user to DELETE the original invitation they sent to you. This is specially important if the person that invited you had set-up auto-invite (which sends out invites automatically every 10 days). A how-to tour on the invite function is available under FAQ (click here to see this tour).

Tip for users who are deleting invitations: Use the "Sort Alphabetically" feature. This way you can find the email address you want to delete more easily. Delete all the invitations to the specific user or at the very least the very first invitation (see date field) - this will then disable future auto-invites.

SPN Invites going into Bulk/Junk/Spam folders

2006-10-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

Some of you have highlighted the issue that SPN invitation emails you send out land up in the recipients bulk folder (and hence they never see it!). Since this may impact several users we thought we would add our feedback to this blog.

Please note that email services such as Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc. can sometimes route emails to Bulk/Junk/Spam folders. Hence the people you invited may not get the SPN invitation email you sent them. The best way to get around this is to send the people you invited a personal email and to let them know that you will send those who have not signed up yet an SPN invite shortly and that they should look out for it in their Bulk/Junk/Spam folder too. Also please highlight that after they register they should complete their school profile so that they get connected to relevant parents from their school, grade, and class.

After you send out a personal email, login to your SPN account – go to the Invite Status page and “Invite All Again” which will send all those people who have not signed up a new invite (Click here to see a small tour on this feature).

PS: Please "train" your email service by setting emails from schoolparentnet.com in your "safe" list. Alternatively, if you get an email from SPN in your Spam folder, make sure you mark it as "Not Spam". This applies to all current users and to those who may be reading this blog and may expect to get invited (ex: if you request an invite from our home page or know that your PTA may invite you).

Excellent Room Parent Resource

2006-10-11T04:43:00.000-07:00

Occasionally you come across a site you feel like telling everyone about. We came across one and thought we would let you know about it - it is the Oak Knoll PTO site. On their site they have a great Room Parent Resource Center where they have done a wonderful job in documenting the "room parent process". It seems that some of these resources would be applicable to others too - such as room/grade parent role descriptions, agenda for meeting with teachers, sign-up and family information sheet templates (we have provided links to some docs - thanks much to this school - if you get a request for a password just click on cancel). We feel that the sign-up sheets could be handled and managed much more easily using SchoolParentNet. Our philosophy on sign-up sheets, is that it is much easier to get people to volunteer for an actual event/task/item rather than to have to make a commitment for a date/time for an unspecified task or for time periods way out in the future. With this in mind, we thought we would outline a "SPN room parent process" for someone who would like to/is using our site:

1) Meet with your teacher and figure out what information needs to be provided to other parents, what are the various activities that need to be planned, for what/how many/when do you need volunteers for in-class and outside class activities.
2) Use a family information sheet or a simple form to collect emails from class parents. You can also hand-out this flier or use this write-up in your class/school/PTA newsletter to help get the word out.
3) Request an invite through the SPN home page and Register after you receive your invitation email.
4) Create a Blog for your class - Blog Description could be "Room Parent Blog - Rm #/Teacher Name/Year".
5) Post information (as it becomes available) about announcements, activities, etc. by updating your blog.
6) Add sign-up sheets to your blog for in-class and extra-curricular activities (check out some of the example tables already pre-loaded that you can use as a starting point). Please note that you do not need to create all sign-up sheets for the school year at one shot - you can just add sign-up sheets to your blog as the date for the specific event/task nears (ex: party, field trip, carnival, etc.) or you could add sign-up sheets on a weekly/monthly basis for tasks that tend to repeat over time (ex: in-class reading/math volunteers, PE/Library volunteers, etc.). Also, our sign-up sheet feature allows the blog owner to send out reminders to all who signed-up with a single click and to print reports showing who signed-up/for what and from which school/grade/class.
7) Invite Parents from your class to view your blog (watch out for the "bulk/junk" mail issue - read this note) .
8) Ask them to set-up the "Notify me when updated" feature so they get an email when you update your class room blog.

And there you have it! You will be on your way with a very useful communication/interaction tool. As your class parents register and create profiles, your school/grade/class groups "directory" will automatically be created for you. You will not need to collate family information and print/copy classroom rosters. Parents will be able to make connections with each other through SPNs message center - enabling them to keep their email/telephone information private and giving it out to only those they would like to. Group messages can be sent to all users in your school/grade/class. You can also create interest groups for your PTC, room parents, etc.

Please note that a similar flow can be used by Grade Level Coordinators, PTO/PTC/PTA committee chairs/members. Enjoy :)

SPN is an extension of PTA websites

2006-10-02T13:54:00.000-07:00

Many schools have PTA/PTC websites and often there is a question about how SPN fits into the overall communication plan and if SPN is a replacement for a PTA website.

There are many website services available out there that will help you launch a site for your district, school, class, PTA, etc (ex: using myteacherpages.com). These services will help you create a site that falls into the genre of Web 1.0 sites. These are sites that typically PUSH information and are managed/controlled by a "single" source (for example the PTA). It is important to note that SPN is not and will never be a replacement for these sites.

However, in some cases, SPN can be a "poor-man's" PTA/school site. If the school (ex: small elementary, pre-K, day care center) does not have IT resources or has a budget crunch, SPN can be used to provide information to the parent community. Ideally though, a larger school will have its own PTA website.

SPN fits into the new genre of sites called Web 2.0 - these are typically built to promote social interaction. The user community creates and shares content rather than there being a "central" content owner. In the PreK-12 school application that SPN serves, there is a possibility that some information may overlap between the PTA site and SPN. However, SPN is much more relevant when you use it to foster interaction amongst the school community - Ex:

(1) for signing-up volunteers for a carnival/festival (many people entering their own availability/interest into an online sign-up sheet and being able to see the current status of what tasks are available, which in turn depends on choices made by other people),

(2) for information dissemination/exchange at the class level - where there are many sources - each room parent being the driver, but where there is also feedback through sign-ups/comments from other class parents.

SPN also connects the parent community through a district/city-to-classroom level "directory" which is tied to user created & controlled profiles - thereby enabling users to get to know local families with shared interests/needs. These types of sites have been used in many other segments with great success (Colleges - Facebook; Business - Linkedin; etc).

So the bottom line is - SPN is attempting to bring new technology/ideas to the school/parent community, and it should be considered as an extension of a PTA website and not a replacement. Ideally, your school will have a PTA website and the school community will also get closely connected to each other through a social web service such as SPN.

Tips to help you build your local network

2006-09-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

Here are steps to help you build a local SPN network around your school (check out these resources to help you in this task):

1) Get someone from the school community who has access to many parent email addresses and who has credibility, to join SPN (typically a PTA leader/member, an active school volunteer, a school administrator, etc).
2) Request this person to start inviting others thru our site - here it helps if this person is "known" so that when someone gets an email invite from them they will take action and join. This person could include an optional personal message when they send out invites (Ex: "I am a PTA member and think this is a useful site. I plan to use blogs/sign-up sheets to interact with parents.")
3) Request this person to create a blog/sign-up sheet. It helps to have relevant content posted on our site before you invite others - it creates a motivation to join. Hence we also have a feature to "invite parents to view blog" that can help to pull in new users after relevant content is created. Note that we have provided many examples/sign-up templates and we can provide support as needed (we also have links to detailed "how to" tours in our FAQ section).
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Here are some points to highlight during a phone call with a school/parent leader:

1) Social network for parents, teachers, administrators.
2) Site provides an online "directory" which is very useful at the start of a new school year - as new users register and create a profile, the site automatically groups them with relevant network members at multiple levels - same district/city, school, grade and even classroom.
3) All network members can invite others they know and trust and hence the site shifts the challenge of network building, creating contact lists, etc. from individuals or organizations (such as PTAs) to all network users.
4) Site leverages schools to create a secure online environment through mechanisms such as "school security code".
5) Site provides a very useful sign-up sheet tool to help manage parent interaction - this is especially relevant for elementary grades (ex: room moms trying to set-up class party, PTA trying to sign-up volunteers for an event such as a Halloween carnival, etc.).

SPN Intro - link that you can email to others

2006-09-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

To introduce SPN you can send this link (http://spncommunity.blogspot.com/2006/09/spn-intro-link-that-you-can-email-to.html) to others by email. Also, ask them to go to our home page (www.schoolparent.net) - browse through about us, blog, tour to learn more.

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SchoolParentNet is a social network for parents, teachers and administrators, and leverages the school system to create a secure online environment. The site enables families to make/strengthen connections around real world communities - their local schools and other interest groups such as soccer clubs, mothers clubs, etc.

Use this site to exchange information and organize events with the school community in a secure and controlled manner. Our simple blog/sign-up sheet feature will provide an efficient, time saving, convenient method to manage wish list/party items, volunteer tasks and fund-raising activities. Use our friend, interest and school group capability to share referrals with local, relevant and trusted users.

Learn about this site by taking a tour. Please click here to see screenshots of how you could use our blog/sign-up sheet feature to create an online “welcome packet” with information about key activities and events, sign-up sheets for things like school/class supply wish lists, parties, etc.

Come join our free PreK-12 network - users from across the country (300+ schools from 35+ states) have already signed up! Please click here to sign-up. After you join the network, you can help win money for your school by inviting others.
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Schools in SPN database

2006-06-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

Which schools do you support ? Do you support day care centers ?

We support Public and Private K-12 schools as well as Pre-K child care centers and family child care programs across the U.S.

If your school or day care center is not in our database please send us a note through the feedback link on our site. Please provide State, school district and school name if it is a public school. If it is a private and/or pre-K school/day care center please highlight this and include the State, City and school/center name.

We will extend support to schools in other countries in the near future. If you would like us to support your school in a different country, please feel free to send us feedback.

Please note that if you were invited to join our network and you are a parent with young children (not attending a school or child care center), you can still sign-up. You will be put into a "default” group and you can interact with other parents in similar circumstances. Users who have not completed a school profile are also put into this group. Users of the default group will not have access to school specific features or be able to view school groups content - but they will be able to form/join and interact with interest groups.

School Information Systems Support ?

2006-06-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

Please help me understand the functionality of your site relative to services like Edline. Our high school is considering signing up with Edline, but there's a concern about the amount of teacher time involved in order to get the site as optimal as possible - with information such as class assignments, class notes, grades (on individual assignments), attendance, calendar information, etc. available online.

There are many services similar to Edline (they all charge $, they all require integration with school information systems and most importantly they put the burden of adoption on already stretched school personnel). Edline is geared towards higher grades and so it makes sense for your school to look into it. Success is almost always directly correlated to teacher adoption.

In our case, we have a site that emphasizes the social aspects of the parent/school community - its a social network for families where we use the school as a connection point (and is free like other consumer sites). We do provide "point" tools that help with collaboration, information dissemination within the school community - adoption of which is more parent driven (things like sign-up sheets). Our current focus is on younger grades. Over time we will look into additional functionality but we will always try and make sure that adoption can be helped & influenced by increased parent involvement. We consider Edline to be an extension of the school information systems - basically they take internal school data and put it on the web. In many cases school districts will directly serve these needs - through their own technology initiatives (internally developed or through a service provider). We expect to co-exist with services like Edline rather than be a direct replacement.

PTA Support?

2006-05-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

We are starting to investigate replacing our PTA software. Was wondering if your software/site does anything that supports PTA database functions with a web front end - eg, membership database that includes family relationships ie parents/siblings, emergency contact info, after school class registration and payment, processing of electronic signatures on mandatory school district forms, Hot lunch sign up and payment, volunteer signup, etc.

We have several features that could help serve the PTA needs you have identified:

1) As users sign-up on our site, they are automatically connected to other school members (they are actually connected to members at 6 levels - from district down to class level depending on how much information they provide). You can get a feel for this by reviewing the directory slide in our tour (http://www.schoolparentnet.com/tour.htm).
2) This directory is connected to a family profile that establishes the parent/sibling relationship.
3) We recommend that users should ask their school PTA/staff to help with directory security - by assigning a volunteer who will be the school security code administrator (we will help set this code up - all we need is for someone to volunteer from the school - a person who can validate school users and is willing to pass out the code to others).
4) Emergency contact info - we do allow parents to enter telephone numbers into their profile. However due to security reasons we do not display this information to others. Once your school has a security code we would be willing to provide access to telephone numbers that users may enter in their profiles.
5) Volunteer sign-ups - we have the capability to create sign-up sheets for specific events, tasks, projects, activities. The sign-up sheet works just as it does in the real world. The owner makes a sheet and others sign-up to volunteer, for items, pledge funds etc. We think that its easier to have volunteer sign-ups tied to specific activities rather than just a list of those who may be willing to volunteer for some future task.

We do not support the following functions yet: after school class registration and payment, processing of electronic signatures on mandatory school district forms, Hot lunch sign up and payment.

Please note that ours is a networking site - built around the school community. We facilitate school and social interaction and over time will continue to add more features. We provide a free service - please try it out - we are sure it will meet some of your needs now and then more so over time.

Security Q&A

2006-05-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

Most other networking sites (that are used by our children) tend to think of security after the fact. Our company was founded by parents - hence network security was a key design goal. We have used the schools our children attend as a connection point and a security screening mechanism. Learn more about our mission and guiding principle.

We have outlined steps we have taken to create a secure online environment in the Q&A below:

Invitation only network --what does this mean? I requested an invitation via the home page and got invited from “VIP invitation”.

* This means that no user can create an account unless they are invited to join the network – either from an existing member or the SPN administrator. There is no automated invitation process, when someone requests an invite through our home page. Users are "manually" invited by our Administrator.
* After a user signs-up using the "VIP invitation", SPN will validate the user. If there is discrepancy in the sign-up information, we will block the user. Also, if the user chooses to not provide school profile information after sign-up, access to directory and other school features is blocked.
* Please note that very few users sign-up through our home page. Most users who join our network are invited by existing members. All network members can invite others to join after they sign-up.

What security features do you have?

* The security screen we perform for users signing up through our home page is only the first filter. We can also set-up a specific security code for your school (more information provided below). This feature helps control who can join your school group.
* An additional security layer is provided by you. You can monitor members because each network user is able to flag violators in the network. When a user registers and provides school profile information, they are automatically connected to other parents, teachers and administrators from their district/city, school, grade and classroom. Hence, each user is connected to a group where there is a high likelihood that others will know them, and this ensures that users cannot remain "anonymous". This automated grouping feature coupled with the ability to flag other users, enables network users to "self-monitor" members in their school, grade, class groups.

What is a school security code?

As we mentioned above, this is another security screen layer (learn more). This feature allows access only to those who get the code, from a person from your school who has volunteered to be the code administrator (and who has the ability to validate that only parents from your school get the code).

We recommend that you get someone to be a code administrator for your school (school staff member, volunteer/PTA parent etc.). Once your school has a code, then school users will feel more comfortable about updating their profiles with information such as hobbies, interests, photos and more (which will provide your school with a richer directory). By default, your school's users detailed profiles, and content posted by them, will only be visible to others from the same school.

Your site encourages people to post photos, interests and sport team or group affiliations. Can I control who views this information ?

Absolutely. Users are welcome to post photos, interests etc - but these are all optional. You do not have to provide this information and if you do, you can control who sees this, i.e to be viewed only by school, grade, class members, or for even more security, only by those you accept as family friends.

Why do you request children's initials on the school profile form ?

Children's initials are requested in order to label the columns used in directory filters. Please see the picture in our tour - you can see "cff" under Group Filters in the second slide. This column would be labeled by your child's initials for your account. Then you would be able to sort through the multiple directory levels by clicking on the buttons below. Your child's name/initials are not listed in any of the directories. As described above, you have complete control over who can view your detailed profile.

We hope that you will find our secure online parents' network useful in your daily lives. Enjoy!

P.S.: Two links that you may find useful (1) List of schools with registered users (2) Success Story screenshots showing how the site is used at one of these schools

Community Dialog

2006-05-23T17:50:00.000-07:00

We will use this blog to capture dialog with our user community. If there are interesting questions (and our answers) that have not yet been posted on our FAQ, we will post them here. If we get comments/feedback through our home page which we think may interest others, we will post it here. Feel free to add your comments to this blog.

For customer support, please continue to send us Feedback through our home page or email us at info@schoolparentnet.com.

We will continue to use our SPN Blog to keep you updated on features, releases, news etc.