Privacy Settings for the Directory ARE BEING SHARED

Betsy Sidebottom · August 2023

Has anyone else noticed that if you run a report titled “Student parent directory – verdana” or “Student Parent Directory (New Times Roman)” or a report of a similar name that parent emails show up even if the parent selected ““Include my name but do not include any other information about me” (in the directory)

We're trying to find an EASY way to share parent emails by grade with parents, while taking into account privacy settings. Realizing parents were included on reports against their wishes has thrown us for a loop. Does anyone else have a workaround? Or is it even possible to create an advanced list to exclude parents that selected privacy settings?!?!

Jessi Walters · August 2023

@Betsy Sidebottom, hi there! I'll email you to get additional details. This doesn't seem right to me, so I definitely want to investigate.

Lauren Henderson · August 2023

@Betsy Sidebottom Yes, the directory settings do not seem to affect all the reports equally. We are struggling with how to best share information with parents for their children's classes. We are now in a place of trying to build an advanced list and potentially going through Excel/ Power BI to get things to display appropriately, and formatted the way External Relations wants it.

Kathy Hannon · August 2023

@Betsy Sidebottom we have had this issue too - we finally created a school form “Parent Directory” that has the cell phone, address, email, parents name. This form is per student. There is a Yes/No option that the parent signs they would like their student's information published in the Directory. Once the form is created we use it year after year - 98% complete it, if they don't complete then it's assumed they don't want anything published. From there we create a pdf directory. Alpha and by grade

Nancy Kierstead · August 2023

@Jessi Walters It's my understanding that the Reports being referenced under “Reporting” are internal reports, for staff. We use these all the time but do not share them with parents. If you impersonate a parent and print out the directory from the Directory itself (using the printer icon) it respects the parent privacy wishes.

Nancy Kierstead · August 2023

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@Betsy Sidebottom
If you impersonate a parent and print out the directory from the Directory itself using the printer icon, it respects the parent privacy settings set up to be shared with other parents. We have it set up so this report can be exported by parents, and it is exported as a PDF. That being said, it would be nice to easily flag this information in the back-end directory reports you mentioned. I export those directory reports (found under “Reporting”) into Excel for audits and to share with division assistants, etc. and I need ALL the information, so I don't want to see it hidden from those. Flagging the privacy wishes in those back-end reports, however, would be super helpful!

Betsy Sidebottom · August 2023

@Nancy Kierstead Yes, you are correct that these reports are, by default, internal. But as I was trying to find a workaround to have a printer-friendly spreadsheet to share with parents, I wrongly assumed these “directory” reports took into account privacy settings. I was planning to share the reports with the parent role - until I discovered that it doesn't apply the privacy settings. So back to the drawing board.

Betsy Sidebottom · August 2023

@Kathy Hannon Thanks. Perhaps this will be the route we go. Although I might also look into creating an advanced list that excludes parents that have privacy settings selected. Lots to consider….

Jessi Walters · September 2023

@Betsy Sidebottom and all who replied - thank you for your thoughtful engagement here! I must admit that I misinterpreted what Betsy said at first; I thought the Directory feature printing options weren't respecting privacy, which would've been a bug.

All is working as designed, but I welcome feedback. Also, I don't know if this is helpful for anyone on this topic, but there are a few columns in the User list to surface privacy settings in bulk:

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Betsy, What are you trying to accomplish with a report or list that can't be done with the built-in Directory feature or print-outs? What would parents do with the email addresses? I can make assumptions based on my own past Platform Manager experience, but I prefer to have concrete examples from current users. Any additional context will be helpful. Thanks!

Betsy Sidebottom · September 2023

@Jessi Walters
Let's look at this in the simplest form. A parent wants to host a parent event and send an evite to ALL parents of the 3rd grade. Her other daughter is in the 6th grade. She wants to invite all of those parents to a 2nd event.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but currently, a parent would need to copy & paste EVERY SINGLE parent email address if they want to get a complete parent list based on the privacy settings.

This is what started this conversation. Since the directory doesn't print in a user friendly spreadsheet, our parents are struggling with an easy way to get a parent email list. Does that make sense?

Jessi Walters · September 2023

@Betsy Sidebottom thank you; yes, that makes sense. That was my assumption, too. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'll ask that you add this enhancement request to the Ideas bank. I'm sure many other schools would appreciate the feature, but I just spent 30 minutes digging through the Ideas bank and didn't see an idea for this. Help me prove that this is needed

Privacy Settings for the Directory ARE BEING SHARED

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