I've recently joined our PTA. It's a super group of hardworking people but sometimes I feel their communication with other parents - ie those who don't attend the meetings but are very interested in the school - could be improved. Their response to this is "if people care, they will come to the meetings or talk to us on the playgroud" and I feel that is a bit narrow - not everyone can fit PTA meetings into their lives, and not everyone has the leisure to prepare what they want to say on a topic, walk around the school at pick-up to track down committee members, see if they're free and have the chat.

I have had an idea that we could have an internet forum (not unlike this one or like a Yahoo! interest group) for our parents. Decisions would still be taken at the meetings but those parents who are at work in offices could check in during the day to see what was happening at school. I feel this could be particularly valuable for divorced non-resident parents who still want to know what's up with their child. We could circulate PTA letters by posts on the forum rather than wasting paper sending them out to all parents. PTA letters wouldn't get "lost" any more because they'd be captured on the forum.

There would be the usual etiquette issues plus additional security considerations. I think people would have to use their real names, and would also have to apply in writing to be "invited" on to the forum. It could be fully moderated - at least at first - just in case someone wanted to send a "gripe" round the whole school.

Areas where I feel it could be invaluable are, for instance, our "eco-schools" project. I'm on the committee for this and I already copy in a few interested friends to the minutes - but there could be dozens more who would like to be updated - without 270 sheets of non-recycled paper being used each time!

the sounds brilliant, i really wish my son's school would do the same.

yes, sounds like a great idea....my school have just started using parentmail to communicate with parents.

An excellent idea.

It is the logical next step forward. DD school has all letters, PTA news etc on website and it is fab. You can check in when it is convenient to you - plus it gives the PTA members a chance to retaliate with "Well you had a chance to voice your views" when parents whinge about the PTA getting it wrong!

i was just looking at our school site, i looked at the lastes newsletter february 22nd .

I think that the chief difficulty with something like this is the issue around moderation - who exactly moderates, and are there very clear guidelines as to what type of post would be removed. My "gripe" might be your "important issue".

Whilst it would make sense for someone active on the committee to moderate, it might be easier if you could find a more neutral party, though I think that the key to success is that the guidance is very clear and the moderator sticks to it and doesn't (even unintentionally) impose their values onto it.

I think that you also need to be prepared for how to deal with parents who don't have internet access. I know that you are trying to communicate more than you currently do, but, depending on the make-up of the school community, you need to be very careful about not excluding people. It therefore that this works alongside the meetings etc and that anyone can access the info if they ask to.

thanks for the support and for those points.

Yes, I agree about moderation. I've got two years' experience of running a Freecycle group so I've seen what can happen with forums.... I'm the sort of person who's more diplomatic in writing than face to face - but many other people are the other way round - great face to face but can give the wrong impression on a forum.

I take the point about exclusion too. I'm a member of another group that has monthly meetings plus a forum - just occasionally the forum "takes off" and we have to remember that we can't make a decision there.

What do you all think about whether parents should have to use their real name? Any other comments would be very welome. It's nice that you all seem to think it would be a good idea. As I say, the established "team" is terrific but it would be lovely to open things out to those at work!

hmmm tbh not sure about a forum, but I do think it's a good idea to have communications available on a website, but also think that paper is still necessary for those parents who don't have access to a computer, and as you don't know who that is the paper for all parents would still have to apply.

I think the main reason for parents not getting involved is apathy rather than not having the time/not being able to find a member of the PTA etc. Generally those parents who want to be involved will be, and the rest will complain whether they have been allowed a say or not.

Also how will you moderate a forum?

Real names would be a must imo as if people want to give opinions they should be doing so under their rl names and not assume they can criticise because they have anonimity.

Just a thought - but does your school have a webaite/learning platform run by uniservity? Because if so, they have built in forum facililties which are pretty easy to set up - most other brands of learning platform will have something similar - you could ask the school's ICT co-ordinator.

Schools are supposed to be setting up Virtual Learning Enviroments, or (VLE)

Moodle is quite a good choice as its free. Or your school could have a private wiki site.

The school I work for is going to use a comerical product bought from serco. We won't have bullitin boards, but parents will be able to look up on the web to see if their kids have been naughty or not attending lessons. Prehaps in the future children will be able to download homework so that the dog has eat it excuse is defunct.

There are big obsticles in that many kids still do not have internet access.