Like the business world, schools such as Red Clay (Del.) School District count on e-mail to communicate. "It's instantaneous. It's the best way to go," says Judith Conway, instructional technology coach in the district.
Also in Delaware, anyone anyplace can sign up to receive CSD E-News, the Christina School District's e-mail newsletter. With tight budgets, e-mail is a cost-effective way to deliver news because there are no postage or hard-copy production costs, reports Wendy Lapham, the district's public information officer.
When three students in the Oswego (Ill.) Community Unit School District and their mother were found murdered in June about 20 miles from their home, Superintendent David L. Behlow activated an emergency instant alert system that includes e-mail to immediately notify the district's nearly 2,000 staff members.
And in Saginaw (Mich.) Public Schools, where about a half-million e-mail messages come in every day, administrators use a firewall provided by Barracuda Networks, a security protection service, to block pornography, spam and other inappropriate messages. About 5,000 of the e-mails, or 1 percent, which are authentic are cleared to go through, keeping students productive and safe from pornography and other inappropriate sites, says Kyle Warner, the district's manager of network services.
In ways like these, for communication internally and externally on administrative and academic matters alike, school districts across the country are increasingly using e- mail to deliver messages to teachers and other staff , students and the outside community-and to hear from them as well. "I probably get 75 to 100 e-mails a day and I respond to them. I used to get that many phone calls in a day. I don't get many phone calls now. It's interesting how the world has changed," says Randy Dozier, superintendent of the Georgetown County (S.C.) School District.
Revelations the 21st Century Way
SOMETIMES STUDENTS HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT POTENTIALLY TROUBLING SITuations but are reluctant to provide it to school authorities. Now e-mail offers a way for students to pass on tips directly and quickly-and anonymously, if they wish.
In the Pearl (Miss.) Public School District, junior high and high school students are using Talk About It, an innovative new e-mail program, to report their concerns. Administrators, teachers and counselors received 2,800 reports from them during the past school year, according to Superintendent John G. Ladner.
They ranged from "the day-to-day stresses of children going to school-bullying was a big one," to family dysfunctions, mostly verbal abuse and some physical abuse, he says.
Administrators considered 619 of the messages to be "valid," requiring investigations, Ladner says. Principals, assistant principals, counselors and designated trained teachers took on those responsibilities.
Pearl is one of 87 school districts in 12 states that use Talk About It, which was developed by AnComm, a two-year-old company. Its key feature, which distinguishes it from regular e-mail programs, is that students who use it don't have to identify themselves and thus are more comfortable using it. Students can log in to their school's personalized Talk About It home page and send messages to faculty anytime from any Web-connected computer, PDA or wireless device.
"There is a huge stigma among kids about ratting on somebody, and for this Internet generation of children, it is logical to use online messaging technology to let them connect with adults in their schools," says Carter B. Myers, AnComm's president.
In addition to bullying and problems at home, incidents reported by students in districts using the system have ranged from threats of violence to cheating, drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, problems with teachers, depression and stress, cutting or self-mutilation, sexual harassment and date rape, according to AnComm.
At one school, a troubled student's report led administrators to take steps that prevented a suicide. Tips in other schools have helped officials confiscate guns and other weapons, heading off potential violent attacks, Myers says.
With school systems across the country grappling with new strategies for improving safety and security, Myers thinks improving communication between students, faculty and administrators is vital. He says Talk About It gives students, administrators and law-enforcement officials a way to share critical information while protecting students' privacy. "You want your children and the community to be aware that things can happen and to know there is someplace they can go, somebody they can turn to," says Ladner, whose district participated in a pilot run for the program. "There are cries for help, but if you do not have a way to hear them, they will not be heard."
Group Mailings
One advantage of e-mail for administrators is being able to reach selected groups of people at the same time with a consistent message. In the Red Clay district, all school principals are on a single list, "so with one e-mail, you can reach all of them," Conway says.
Similarly, in Georgetown County it's broken down into different categories. "We can do group e-mails to principals, other administrators, teachers, assistants, or all our 1,600 employees," Dozier says. "For a rural district we're probably on the cutting edge."
In many districts, administrators and teachers use e-mail to communicate externally as well as internally. Red Clay district teachers use it to communicate with parents on "run-of-the-mill" matters, such as parent meetings and other class activities, says Conway.
"That's not to say teachers don't call parents when they have to, because there are some issues where e-mail is not appropriate and they really need to talk to the parent. But for routine stuff , like providing school schedules and other basic information, e-mail is used heavily in teacher- parent communication," she says.
One anonymous parent who e-mails teachers and administrators in her daughter's New York school says an advantage is that it creates a written record of communication. "It's harder for districts to say things such as they didn't get the voice mail," she asserts.
"It seems like the teachers I deal with all have laptops and answer questions throughout the day in e-mail. It's been really tremendous, and I believe it also saves teachers meetings and in-person time with parents," the mother says.
In the Christina district, meanwhile, about 4,500 people have subscribed to the district's free e-mail newsletter. Most users are parents, but there are other community members who just want to keep updated on what's going on in the district, says Lapham.
Issued at least monthly and more frequently as events dictate, and usually in full color with photographs, CSD E-News is a mix of hard news about relevant developments in the district and state government as well as features about what's going on with students in school, Lapham says.
A June issue reported how one elementary school's students won a T-shirt design and logo contest. Another in May reported how state police and school officials worked together to charge a seventhgrade student in a case involving a threatening note at a middle school.
