Get Answers to Your Frequently Asked Questions About Peachjar
Effective February 1, 2017, Keystone Oaks School District is now using Peachjar to send flyers electronically.
Why did Keystone Oaks begin using Peachjar to send flyers electronically?
Over the past few years, Keystone Oaks has been working hard to improve the way the district communicates with families. While improvements have been made, we were still challenged with sending information in a way that is easy to read and consistent across all five buildings. These challenges often led to information not getting sent out in a timely manner or not sent out at all. Additionally, emails that were sent out, especially those with attachments, were not visually appealing nor were they user friendly. Lastly, sending e-mails via this method created an unnecessary workload for Keystone Oaks’ building principals and secretaries, who had to approve content, keep track of requests to distribute information, compose e-mails and upload attachments into a system that is not designed to send those types of informational e-mails.
Additionally, the FCC recently ruled that messages sent with district systems must be “closely related to the mission of the school district.” This brought into question the legality of the district using its email system to distribute information for outside community groups and organizations, especially when those e-mails were sent out by themselves. Because Peachjar is a more centralized system, we can work to ensure that flyers for community groups are being sent along with other information that the district needs to distribute.
What are the benefits of using Peachjar?
There are several benefits to using Peachjar, including:
- Individuals and groups now have the ability to upload flyers for approval, giving them control over when flyers are sent out.
- Once approved, the flyers are sent in a daily e-mail and are made available on a Peachjar page on each school’s website. No more waiting for a weekly e-mail!
- The e-mails are visually appealing and give users to opportunity click directly on a flyer to be redirected to a website for more information, sign-ups, etc.
- Having the flyers available on the website makes it easier for people to find information that had been sent out. No more searching through e-mails and attachments!
- Several templates are available for groups to create eye-catching flyers.
- Groups can view metrics for their flyers, allowing them to make better decisions about the types of flyers that are the most effective.
- Electronic flyer delivery is green and saves on printing costs.
Who can use Peachjar?
Anyone can upload and send flyers through Peachjar! For some groups, there may be fees for sending flyers electronically:
- Flyer distribution is FREE for any group affiliated with the school district (PFOs, booster groups, club/activities, etc.)
- For community organizations not affiliated with the school district, flyer distribution is FREE for groups that are promoting a free event or activity that does not entice participants to join a fee-based program, or purchase products or services.
- For community organizations not affiliated with the school district, there is a fee for distributing flyers for programs that have fees associated with them. More information about pricing is available on Peachjar’s website.
What are the flyer guidelines for Keystone Oaks School District?
Flyers that are distributed by Keystone Oaks School District must meet the following guidelines:
- Support the basic educational mission of the district, directly benefit the students, or be of intrinsic value to the students or their parents/guardians.
- Flyer must be in PDF format and smaller than 6 MB.
- Flyer must contain the name and contact information of the sponsoring entity.
- Material must not advocate a religious or a political viewpoint.
- Flyer must include the following disclaimer, which Peachjar automatically adds to flyers from outside organizations:
- “This program, activity, product or service is not sponsored by or affiliated with Keystone Oaks School District.”
Flyer approval does not constitute endorsement. Approval simply means the material has been reviewed and meets the guidelines for districtwide electronic distribution. The district reserves the right to rescind approval to any organization or person if a complaint is received or the organization or person is found to be in violation of instructions from the Keystone Oaks Public Relations & Communications Office.
Flyers shall not be approved if they:
- Contain obscene material or are inappropriate for family viewing in a school environment.
- Promote products that are unlawful for minors to purchase or use, or businesses that are unlawful for minors to patronize.
- Promote projects, activities or programs that would publicize or promote a particular church, religious organization or view point.
- Promote projects, activities or programs that would publicize or promote a particular political party, political organization or political viewpoint.
- Are deemed inconsistent with School District policies or contrary to law.
- Would tend to disrupt the school environment.
For more information about Peachjar, please see the District's website.