Directory Meeting Notes

Bellevue PTSA Directo= ry Summit

Meeting Notes

6/16/06

Compiled by Ruth Lipscomb (RuthL@exmsft.com)

Who is listed in directories: Most directories include ALL stude= nts, but a couple include only PTSA members.

Where data comes from: Most directories start with data f= rom the school district, either through the office manager at elementary and mi= ddle schools, or the Registrar at high schools.= This information is dumped in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format. (Note: the file extension from the distri= ct isn’t .XLS, so you can’t double-click to open it, but it can be= opened from in within Excel.) Some s= chools print the directory directly from Excel, some mail merge the information in= to a Word document. Only a couple = of schools type the information by hand from forms turned in by parents.

Most schools either use the dump of district informati= on from the start of the school year, or sends a ch= ange form to parents to update their information before the directory is publish= ed. Some schools wait until the school= has updated the district database, while others get their own changed-informati= on forms and edit the district-dumped data themselves. One school encourages parents thro= ughout the year to make sure their district information is correct, then uses whatever the district has at the start of the year. Some schools do not send the district’s Student Profile form home in the fall for updates; others = do this every year.

The district data dump isn’t very pretty: it’s all capital letters and= the parent’s names are combined into one piece of text (“John Doe a= nd Susan Smith”.) A softwa= re upgrade this summer will make it easier to enter the data into the district’s database, but the data dumped for directories will probabl= y be the same format after the upgrade.

Who gets directories: Some elementary PTSA’s give a directory to every family. Some PTSA’s give one or two directories with each paid PTSA membership. Some give one copy per PTSA member= ship and sell additional copies to PTSA members. Some schools sell the directories = without membership. Some schools give copies to teachers, but most do not.

How directories are distributed: Most are sent home with kids at th= e end of September or early October. One school distributes them at Back To School night = in late September, when most PTSA membership signups occur.

What’s inside the directories – Student= lists: All the directories have student&#= 8217;s names, parent names, addresses, phone numbers, and which class they are in = (grade for middle and high school.) = Some directories include parent email addresses, which are in the district Excel file.

The district gives the “primary guardian” = name and address, so if a child is half-time with each parent, only one parent’s information comes from the district. Some schools fix this by listing t= he child twice – with two different sets of parent information. They get the second parent’s information from the family in order to do this.

For elementary schools, there are two parts to all the directories: lists of student= s in each classroom, and a directory of the entire school combined. Some schools have just phone numbe= r and parent names in the class list section, some hav= e all student information (address, email, etc.)= Some directories include room parent names and contact information.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Most of the all-school sections in= clude all of the student information (parent names, addresses, phone, etc.) All directories have the student&#= 8217;s grade number or class abbreviation either before or after their name in the all-school directory.

The district provides email addresses; some directories publish them and some didn’t. One school gives high school students the option to add their own (c= ell) phone number, but that information doesn’t come from the district.

The format of the student information varies wildly, f= rom one line per student across the width of the page, to student information stacked vertically into columns. (See attached photos for examples of each.)

What’s inside the directories – Other s= chool information: All director= ies include other information in addition to student listings. Some include teacher lists with em= ail addresses and/or phone numbers. Some just list teacher names. One directory includes the district’s year-long calendar, scal= ed down to fit the page size, which everyone liked. Most directories include a PTSA calendar. Most included a cla= ss schedule, either a bell schedule of class and lunch times, or a blank class schedule where class names could be written in. A school map is in a couple of directories. Some give commun= ity resource contact information.

Some schools have a cross-reference for parents with different last names than their children and everyone mentioned that parents ask for this a lot. The distr= ict information isn’t in a form where this is easy to generate automatically. One school sen= ds out a form asking for this information, which is then compiled into the list.

What’s inside the directories – Adverti= sing: One school last year sold page-siz= e ads for $200 each, got 2 of them, and paid for half of the directory costs. A= notice went into the school newsletter and the summer mailing soliciting ads. There are some restrictions on ad = sizes if you send them by bulk mail, so check this out if you plan to sell advertising.

Directory sizes: About half are 8.5”x11” (full-page) and the rest are 5.5= ”x8” (half-page).

How they are bound: The 8.5”x11” directori= es are all side-stapled, and one is both stapled and 3-hole-punched. The 5.5”x8” directorie= s are a mix among different schools of folded and center-stapled, side-stapled, comb-bound and spiral bound. = Directories done by the Bellevue School District Copy Center are limited in binding choices, so ones made there are all either 8.5”x11” side-staple= d, or 5.5”x8” folded and center-stapled. BSD won’t staple the smaller= size directories; only full-size ones.

Basic copying costs: BSD charges $0.025 per double-sided sheet for the basic Xeroxing cost. <= /span>The print center in the Tukwila Costco charges $0.055 per double-sided copy. BSD’s turnaround is about a = week and a half, and they get especially busy in September. Costco’s turnaround is usual= ly under 3 days no matter what you order.&nbs= p; BSD’s copying quality isn’t as good as Costco’s, b= ut it’s acceptable for black-and-white copies. Both BSD and Costco are friendly a= nd helpful. Microsoft also has a printing center, but their prices are slightly higher than Costco’s, I hear. Kinko’s or other printers are more expensive than these options. If you decide to bind the director= ies yourself and want to do half-page size, either BSD or Costco is able to cut= the stacks of copied pages for you.

Folded & center-stapled bindings: The BSD print center limits thickn= ess to 20 sheets of paper to fold and center-staple. (This makes a half-page sized dire= ctory.) They might allow you to push that = higher if you’re close to the maximum number. To get the pages to line up back-t= o-back properly for this type of booklet, you need to lay out the directory in Microsoft Word or Publisher, but not Excel. Both of those programs support R= 20;booklet layout.”

Comb and coil (spiral) binding: Anything other than staples requir= es going somewhere besides BSD for the binding. Costco has very good prices, but t= hese are still expensive. Costco c= harges $0.89 to spiral bind and $0.79 to comb-bind. Colorful comb-bindings are cheap if bought off the internet, about $0.05 each on www.combbinding.net, but doing them yourself requires a special punch machine and a lot of time. Most school have a manual binding machine, or you can buy them for $100 - $300 on the internet or at office stores, but try this method out first to make sure you don’t mind the hassle. Electric comb-binding machines, with power hole-punching, are much more expensive than the manual type. No machine, manual or electric, can punch more than about 15 pages at a time, so if you have a lo= ng directory, consider how many “punches” it will take. There is no way to do inexpensive = coil / spiral bindings at home; they require special equipment.

For a relative cost comparison, here are estimated pri= ces for a 20-sheet half-size booklet (40 half-pages.) Your prices will vary based on your choice of cover stock, how many actual pages you have, how many staples you get, etc. Don’t rely on= this for anything other than relative comparison!

BSD copy center	Folded and center-stapled	Approx. $0.50 each
Costco printing	Folded and center-stapled	Approx. $0.85 each
BSC copy center	Comb-bound by volunteers	Approx. $0.55 each
Costco printing	Paid comb-binding	Approx. $1.55 each
Costco printing	Paid coil-binding	Approx. $1.65 each