FAQ on Effectiveness of Bloomz
FAQ on Effectiveness of Bloomz
What is the effectiveness of Bloomz? Is this one more place or the only tool we need?
Bloomz is the simplest app to help you build thriving parent communities at schools. It is also your one stop shop for connectivity and productivity. With Bloomz you can reach everyone in your school including your PTA board and committee members, teachers, school staff and all parents. Bloomz offers parents with integrated calendar that pulls school, PTA and class calendars and allows you to manage volunteers, including sign ups all in one place.
How does Bloomz help PTA/PTO units?
Bloomz has the capability to help PTAs connect easier with parents, increase membership, drive more active volunteers, and drive advocacy for initiatives, all the while building stronger communities.
What types of schools benefit the most from Bloomz?
Elementary schools would benefit most from Bloomz, however many middle and high school PTA leaders have indicated that Bloomz would be a great platform for them as well. Middle and high school parents can use Bloomz to be more informed of their child's learning environment while connecting with other parents who are also trying to stay connected in their preteen/teen's world.
How does Bloomz replace multiple tools that PTAs currently use? (e.g. Emails, Newsletters, flyers, websites, Facebook and Twitter)?
All your communication can be via one social network that is available to everyone, members and non-members. You can recruit volunteers, send out reminders of upcoming events, and engage your entire community in a more direct, practical, and clutter-free manner.
Can our teachers effectively use Bloomz?
Absolutely! Teachers can set up a ‘Group’ for their classroom and interact with parents, PTA Organizations, and other school administrators. This allows them to post homework, relay announcements, co-ordinate events such as field trips, request volunteers, share photos, as well as schedule parent-teacher conferences and maintain a steady stream of communication with their students' parents.
Can I engage volunteers on the app?
Yes. Click Here to Learn How
Do we need a dedicated volunteer to manage Bloomz?
We have designed Bloomz to be a self-servicing tool that does not require you to dedicate a volunteer to manage Bloomz.
FAQ on Abilities of Bloomz
Which platforms does Bloomz Support?
Bloomz supports iPhone, Windows Phone, and some Android phones. We plan to expand Android support to most phones by the end of August.
Will there be key features that specifically help with fundraising?
This is on the roadmap for the future. At this point, you can post a link to any fundraising portal right from the app. We will offer deeper integration soon.
Will multiple school calendars easily integrate with Bloomz?
Yes, we support integration with multiple calendars using iCal, Tandem, teamCowboy so that parents can consolidate all their calendars in one place. Click Here to learn how
Can I link an existing school calendar to Bloomz?
Absolutely. Here's how.
Will Bloomz integrate easily with something like evite?
Bloomz replaces the need for an invitation tool such as evite. The Bloomz calendar supports scheduling events, sending invitations, managing RSVPs with automated reminders and alerts. Click Here to learn how to create RSVP events.
Does Bloomz have the capability of sending a weekly email/newsletter?
Yes, but not in the traditional sense. Parents tell us they want information in bite-sized pieces so they can act on each piece as it comes across vs. a newsletter format which can be hard to digest and read through all at once. For this reason, Bloomz offers the ability to deliver all newsletter information in multiple posts.
With Bloomz you could post information at any time--You don't have to wait for the next weekly email distribution! By using Bloomz to communicate with parents, you're giving them the ability to communicate back with you, by liking a post, re-sharing it, asking a question or leaving a comment. You could also schedule your events on the Bloomz calendar and invite whomever you'd like (e.g. your entire parent community). Parents could accept the invitation which will provide you an idea of who will be attending, while sending the attendees reminders and alerts when the event is approaching.
If you would really like to have a newsletter available, you can still do that, by making the newsletter as an attachment to a post. However, you would not see the social benefits of having parents interact with you and each other.
Is there a calendar overview that you can see the month at a time?
Not at this time, but the feature will be available soon!
Can parents look at other classrooms on the site?
Yes, but only if they are members of the group/class. Any parent can view any classroom if they have permission (either from an administrator or another member of the class) to be a member of the group.
Can we invite parents to multiple classrooms such as Spanish, music, etc?
Yes, you can invite parents to multiple classrooms by sending them a separate invitation for every class (group) that you would like them to join.
FAQ for Group Management
When I create subgroups, I invited members of the group but do not want to invite the committee chair as a member but as an administrator. What advantage does that have? If you are simply a member can you invite other parents to join or do you have to be an administrator for that subgroup to do it?
Members of a sub-group can invite other members (not administrators) and post to the sub-group. Only administrators can invite other administrators in addition to members. Administrators also have other privileges such as creating announcements, adding calendar events, customizing the theme for the sub-group etc.
I've started inviting my board members and members of my group. When they become members can they see all the updates on all the groups or only to the groups that they have been added to?
Members of a subgroup inside your community are also become members of your community. They will have access to subgroups only if they have been invited to join those subgroups. They will be able to view the community level updates as well as updates from their specific sub-groups only but not from other sub-groups or classes which they have not been invited to or joined.
FAQ for Privacy and Security
Is there a code of conduct for parents on this network?
All users are expected to use Bloomz to discover their child's world and simplify how they manage their child's busy schedules. If a parent posts or messages anything an administrator feels is inappropriate, they can flag the parent's messages to be inappropriate and, thereby, prevent other users from viewing the parent’s profile. The parent will receive an email informing them that their content has been flagged as inappropriate, and their posts are no longer visible to other members.
What tools are available to address any misuse?
An administrator has the ability to ‘flag’ an individual or group’s contact as inappropriate. If they choose to do that, then that person/group will not be visible to other members of the community.
FAQ for Managing Invitations
Is there an "opt out" feature where we could enroll all parents and then those not wishing to continue can opt out verses opting in on their own?
You can use the bulk invite tool to invite everyone, and if parents choose not to participate they just do not accept the invitation. Click Here for “Bulk Invite” Process
How long does an individual have to “accept” my invitation before it becomes invalid?
Any individual will get three email reminders about pending invitations. If all three are “ignored”, the individual will have to be “invited” again to generate further reminders.