Healthy communication between schools and parents allows both to collaborate in providing the best possible learning experience for students. Many schools find that using an e-mail list keeps parents in the loop. But The Washington Post reports that maintaining a school e-mail list can become problematic. Often maintained by a school’s PTA, conflict can arise over ownership if the list manager decides to leave the PTA or if there are stringent rules about who can post, for example. “As PTA Groups Move Online, So Does Dissension” describes some of the pitfalls of PTA managed e-mail lists. School administrators and PTA groups should work together when introducing an e-mail list. Establish ground rules and have people abide by them.
re: Who Controls the School E-mail List?
In our district, the principal controls one list and the PTC controls another for the school. That way, there is no conflict - and both lists send info that is appropriate for their list. The source of emails for both lists is the school parent email database, and we ask for permission during the fall contact update period.