Online School Directories: Are They Better Than Paper?
School funding is failing to keep pace with school needs, and parent organizations are being asked to do more every year. School directories are a vital resource for families and a valuable fundraising tool for schools, but it is a challenge every year to collect and verify all the information, sell ads to sponsors, decide how many copies to print (allowing for new families later in the year), and get the directory into the hands of families as early as possible. No matter how careful the editing, the directory will have inaccurate or missing information shortly after printing as students move in and out of the school. No matter how good the estimate, there will always be too many or too few directories printed. Moving the directory online would allow a lot more flexibility in keeping the information up to date and eliminating waste, but few schools have the technical resources to build and maintain an online directory since they are relying on an ever-changing group of parent volunteers.
I was a volunteer school directory editor for 9 of the 11 years that my kids were in elementary school. I have written programs to collect information directly from the parents and other programs to import spreadsheets provided by the school. No matter how many directories I edited, the formatting was always a challenge. There has to be a better way!
I launched School Directory Services LLC with the goal of helping schools and parent organizations to publish secure and accurate online directories and to get the information in the hands of families as quickly as possible. It just so happens that we are in the middle of a pandemic which adds a whole new set of challenges to printing and distributing directories. If ever there were a time to consider an online directory, this is it! Since the ClassList.Online directory is dynamic, information can be updated at any time, as needed. Sponsors can be added throughout the year — no one gets turned away because they missed the printing deadline. Schools retain control over their data with an administrative console that allows designated users to update pricing and add, edit, or delete student, family, and staff information, and all logged-in users are able to edit their own address, phone, and email details because a directory is only as good as the information it contains.
The ClassList.Online subscription is priced to be competitive with the cost of printing directories and includes the added value of three basic universal fundraisers: membership, sponsorship, and direct giving. Funds raised are deposited directly into the organization’s PayPal account, and schools that want to offer additional fundraisers, product sales, event registrations, or other custom data collection can pay a flat fee for additional directory pages. The price is not based on sales volume and there are no hidden costs. Schools that renew their online directories will receive a discount on all renewed services, and their users will enjoy uninterrupted access with logins that carry over from one year to the next.
I was never able to implement an online solution when I was a directory editor. However, combining today’s new technology and my passion for problem solving, I hope to make life a little easier for volunteer directory editors everywhere with a dynamic, feature-packed solution that the whole school will enjoy.
Take a look at my sample directory, or send me an email at contact@schooldirectoryservices.com if you would like more information.