Every once and awhile life gives me a giggle. Well that is the way I feel when a parent sends me an email about a good news success story.
Penny, from Alberta, Canada writes:
“Just wanted to drop you a line and share my recent experience with ning. (Ning is a content management system) I wanted to start a Parent Council website and got permission but when I sat down to plan what I wanted out of a website it had nothing to do with Parent Council. Add to that the fact that people just aren’t excited about a static website anymore — I was stumped. At first I didn’t think I liked the ning format but it had started to grow on me. So I started a “Parnet Ning” — now we only have 28 members so far but it is only the first week and that is only by word of mouth. We have a general events calendar, Minor ball group (with calendar), Soccer group (with calendar), and Grade 2 and 5 news so far that various people are helping to maintain. It has been very well received and I think it will continue to grow at an exponential rate. Everyone LOVES the ning format (they were all on Facebook already so it isn’t really foreign to them). Some are already taking the initiative and adding events etc. (although the embedded calendar is still under only a few people’s control). I think it is going to be a very valuable service to our small community and hardly any time or energy spent setting it up.”
WOW! 28 parents all working on the same project and in only one week. What a great start.
Penny used all those “secret techniques” to get parents involved.
If you would like more information about setting up a ning this video gives you an overview.
Here is the link to the Parents as Partners ning.
