Does anyone publish a PTA Directory from year to year that parents have opted into that has everyone listed by classroom: child's name, address, phone and mom & dad's names? Is it published on paper or on a CD? Has anyone ever had a problem with this directory falling into the wrong hands or being "corrupted" by a sex offender, etc?
We do a hard copy paper PTA Directory parents have the option to include or not include the info they'd prefer. Generally yes it is alphabetized by last name and consits of child's name,siblings attending our school, grade, parents names, phone number and e-mail address. As far as I know we have never had a problem of it falling into the wrong hands.
I like the one that comes with The Groupery (http://www.thegroupery.com). Parents sign up independently from the school and give permission when they sign up. The online version is free and anyone can order a paper version.
We are on our 3rd annual School Directory now. It is sponsored by local businesses, which absorbs the cost of the printing. It is given to each family free of charge. We decided not to do the CD version for fear it wouldn't be as easy and convenient as a paper copy. It has the school administration, PTA board, PTA Calendar, children listed alphabetically and then listed again by teacher/grade. We send a sign up form to the parents and also at Open House (signature required) that allows them to include what they would like in print (Name, phone, email, address, siblings). On the permission/ sign up form and on the inside cover of the diretory is a disclaimer that individuals cannot use it as a source of advertising or forward the information outside of the school and also that the PTA is not liable for misuse. We've had a very large success with it. The first year we had 200 families sign up, the second year we had over 400. We have 700 students with approximately 500 families.
We use Excel. Our computer resource teacher at our school showed us how to use it and we transfer the template to the next chair. We also have excess to an excel at school set up with a PTA file of it so if a chair doesn't have Excel, they can type the info at school.
There is a online software called PT Connect (www.parentteacher.net) that has some directory templates. It's a basic template though, but it sure makes it fast to make a directory without having to retype everything.
We did hard copy directories too and had a local business sponsor it, but it was still expensive. This year we converted to an entirely online version that I wrote for the school. It was well received and has people logging into it daily.
I decided to create a public version with a bunch of enhancements based on feedback that I've had from our parents. You can find my project at www.addressmonster.com. The original one is at www.weddingtonpta.org (but it is password protected so you can't see too much) It is geared entirely at PTA and school needs.
Each family has the ability to control what information is displayed in the directory and can update their own information without having to get the PTA involved. It also supports having children in multiple schools so parents don't need to have multiple logins.
All of the access is logged and the PTA directory "owner" can see all of the activity from their administrative pages. They can also revoke access to the directory if they need to or force password changes.
I'd be happy to demo it for anyone that might be interested in using it.