Any time school personnel use email to communicate with parents, whether at school or at home, they are representing themselves as district employees and should adhere to the District’s General Email Usage Guidelines as well as the School Personnel to Parent Email Usage Guidelines listed below. This does not mean that all school personnel must use email to communicate with parents; however, if a school employee chooses to use email as a form of parent communication, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD has established the following guidelines.

1. Email should be used after face-to-face parent contact has been established and authentication of the parent’s email address is verified.

2. Using email as a form of parent communication should follow campus personnel to parent communication guidelines. Email should be returned in a timely fashion just as any other communication with parents; e.g., 24-hour rule on returning a parent telephone call.

3. Before sending a class/course group email, school personnel should secure written parent permission. This precaution should be taken because the email could reveal the email addresses of the group list.

4. If an email is received that causes concern, a school administrator should be alerted.

5. Use good judgment in forwarding any email. Ensure that privacy considerations are taken into account; e.g., FERPA prohibits sharing information about a child with anyone other than the child’s parent or legal guardian.