The person who said "Technically no, you cannot" use the school's mailing list may be correct for that person's district, but there's no reason other districts can't allow it. Our district has just started using email for the district's own newsletters, and the school board agreed to let PTOs use it as well. We'll try it for the first time in a few weeks, but as I understand it we won't be able to see the actual email addresses; we'll just select our school from a list and send it off. That way there's no "sharing" of the email address, and we don't have to manage a separate sign-up, which has not worked well for us in past years.
One other idea. In our district, each school has a listserv type mailing list that anyone can subscribe and then receive email announcements. Some principals are better than others about communicating.
Our high school principal sends out a "newsletter" style message every Friday detailing activities the next weeks, sports, upcoming events, reminders, etc.
School groups, including PTA/PTO and others can fill out a form with the school secretary to have their info included. (Needs to be brief.)
Note - format-wise, it's very simple text message. No graphics or special formatting. He just uses capital letter headings for different categories.
Probably not. Most organizations try not to give out email addresses as it really annoys people. However, from a strictly legal standpoint, they might have to give it to you if you request properly. I don’t recommend forcing the issue.
Under FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), the following student information can be disclosed unless the family has a written do-not-disclose request on file. Some of this is given out routinely such as basic info for a sports write-up in the local paper. (name, grade, weight/height, etc.) Other is provided whenever someone submits a Public Information Request asking for it. (Colleges, photo, senior ring vendors, armed services, etc.)
Student's name
Address
Telephone listing
Electronic mail address
Photograph
Date and place of birth
Major field of study
Dates of attendance
Grade level
Participation in officially recognized activities and sports
Weight and height of members of athletic teams
Degrees, honors, and awards received
The most recent educational agency or institution attended
Student ID number, unique personal identifier (not SSN)
The big question becomes if the email address on file is part of the student’s information. If so, it’s shareable.
Each year I submit a Public information request for all the students at our campus, pay my $5, and get all this an Excel file on CD. (We use the information with parent groups/clubs/campus activities.) The school claims they cannot provide email addresses.
Yet this year my son is Junior and for the first time ever, my husband filled out the contact paperwork at the start of school. We are now receiving tons of college recruitment letters AND emails to his account. So the school MUST have shared it with whatever source the colleges are using. (My email address has been floating around throughout all the years; his was never on file before.)
Also, the school actually assigns each student an inhouse email account. There’s no way they could claim THAT’s not part of the student record if I really pushed the matter under Open Records/Public Information. But I don’t and won't.
As a private citizen, I’m glad they don’t share email addresses too readily.
Technically no you can not use their emailing list. They have permission to contact the people that gave their addresses, you do not as a separate, 3rd party. Only way you should be contacting them (using that list) is if it was specifically noted that they would also be contacted by the PTO, or if the school will send it from them as something of interest. I would highly recommend that your PTO capture email addresses along with all other membership information and keep your records up to date. That gives you the flexibility to do what needs to be done.
Getting permission from the district was proving to be a pain in the rear so we ended up creating a separate sign up form and sent it home to all the parents. This way even non-PTO parents can be kept in the loop. A monthly eNewsletter is sent out once a month. About every other week a special eNews blast is sent out about stuff like Spirit Nights coming up or other special events.
Our Correspondance Chair keeps a spreadsheet by grade with a list of the kids whose parents signed up. We send home a paper newsletter once a month to everyone except those kids.
The goal is to get every parent to sign up for the eNews. Saves money, paper, and time in the long run.
