Today, Janet and I made a small presentation to the PTSO Board at Newton North. Our purpose was to update them specifically on what's happening with respect to the North PTSO website and directory. Our talk covered that and also the NPS? TAC? more generally. Here are the highlights.

NPS TAC 2008-2009 Projects

• Learning (Lead: Shelley Chamberlain)
• Learning Management (Lead: Missy Costello)
• PTO Communications & Directory (Lead: Erik Britt-Webb)
• Overall Communications (Lead: TBD)

PTO/PTSO Communications & Directory – Primary Goals

• Improve information access and collaboration within each PTO through the use of common/shared infrastructure
• Dramatically streamline and improve the sharing of calendar events and news items across the district by enabling district-wide (and multi-school) events/news to be shared in a structured way down to local school PTO websites (via content syndication) and vice-a-versa
• Dramatically streamline and improve how PTO contact directory information is gathered, validated, published and maintained
  • For each PTO
  • Across PTOs for families with children in multiple schools
• Make it easy and secure for appropriate school constituents to interact across a range of Newton school and PTO websites, using a single identity and authentication credentials (rather than having to maintain different ones for NorthPTSO.org, WardPTO.org, NPSTAC.org, etc.)

Pilot Projects

• Being conducted simultaneously at www.NorthPTSO.org, www.WardPTO.org and www.NSPTAC.org.
• Implemented local calendars that are slowly getting populated
• On WardPTO.org, provide an archive of email blasts (coming soon to NorthPTSO)
• Working feverishly on short-term online directory gathering process/tools, while long-term solution is ironed out
• In the next couple of months, looking to tackle the challenge of receiving, editing and organizing content for the NorthPTSO and WardPTO email blasts

Help Needed

• Graphic designer to improve look & feel of these websites
• Technically-minded person who can help configure modules being used to power the functionality of these sites (using the Drupal?.org system, but little to no programming required)