Shades Cahaba Elementary School
PTO Communications Guidelines
Purpose
The Shades Cahaba Elementary (SCE) PTO supports the staff, faculty and students of Shades Cahaba Elementary School. We also support the mission of our PTO, the PTOs of our fellow Homewood Schools, Homewood City Schools (HCS) and the Homewood City Schools Foundation (HCSF).
The PTO President, Social Media Chair, Communications Chair, SCE principal and SCE assistant principal have final say on all requests. The SCE PTO should only provide pertinent, timely and only Homewood City Schools-related information to the families, faculty and staff of SCE. We are not a mainstream news outlet, nor do we discuss controversial events that are anecdotal or hearsay.
Our communications outlets currently include:
-www.scespto.membershiptoolkit.com: calendar, news, newsletters, email list
-Facebook @ShadesCahabaElementaryPTO
-Instagram @ShadesCahabaElementaryPTO
We support all requests for:
-SCE PTO fundraising
-SCE PTO-sponsored events
-SCE events and SCE reminders
-HCS and HCSF news, updates, fundraisers, events, etc.
-SCE education-specific news stories (education stories from the Homewood Star, etc.)
-fellow Homewood School PTO requests
-Community-based, or educational/SCE student-specific activities and outlets: Like Homewood Parks and Rec opportunities/activities; Homewood Public Library; testing assistance, etc.
Subjects we avoid:
-Non-SCE and Non HCS news, personal posts, personal events (such as garage sales, outside club gatherings, or personal non-SCE events), community news, news stories that should be handled by HCS/SCE, gossip, hearsay, inflammatory discussions, opinions, politics, personal commentary, speculation, etc. Our outlets will be informational, unbiased and solely for SCE families to receive information about the SCE PTO, SCE and Homewood City Schools. SCE PTO does not shape policy and will not comment on non SCE/SCE PTO activities. All requests for comment should go back to the SCE principal or assistant principal.
Posting Pictures:
-We will be aware and sensitive to the fact that not all parents are comfortable with their children being posted on social media. In some cases, posting a student’s picture could create a safety issue for that child. Therefore, before posting pictures of SCE students that were not sent to us by their guardians with the intention to share/post, the social media chair and communications chair will seek the approval of the principal or assistant principal.
We reserve the right to:
-Hide controversial or inappropriate comments
-Mute accounts that are potentially abusive
-Block accounts that are abusive
-Report abuse
Additional Information specific to Room Parents:
Room parents are NOT permitted to create class Facebook pages, Instagram accounts, or Twitter accounts. While no doubt well-intended, none of us are fully aware of every student’s family dynamics. Our teachers have had social media training and understand what can and cannot be posted on social media. If further information is needed, please reach out to us. We'll be happy to clarify.
