46 minutes ago, FootballGuy2121 said:

This will cause a mass exodus of coaches to border states. You have kids who have a less than ideal home life, and they depend on these coaches as mother and father figures. 
 

In the time of crisis, you think they’re going to depend on some app to get that message directly to a coach? What if the WiFi is down? What if the app has glitches? The decisions of a few awful individuals are costing coaches who are in this business for the right reason: TO HELP AND PROMOTE KIDS! 

I used the Remind app for many years as the main communication tool, and never had an issue. Personally, I was never a fan of using Social Media apps as communication channels to distribute and collect information. Remind offered a level of privacy and efficiency and I can't remember a single time where it failed over a 7 or 8 year period coaching two different sports. I always made it a personal policy to not connect with parents/players using social media after having issues with an angry parent or two in the early days of social media. Really, these apps are the best way to keep conversations private, as well as to reach players and parents quickly and efficiently, and allows you more control over messaging.

1 hour ago, FootballGuy2121 said:

This will cause a mass exodus of coaches to border states. You have kids who have a less than ideal home life, and they depend on these coaches as mother and father figures. 
 

In the time of crisis, you think they’re going to depend on some app to get that message directly to a coach? What if the WiFi is down? What if the app has glitches? The decisions of a few awful individuals are costing coaches who are in this business for the right reason: TO HELP AND PROMOTE KIDS! 

Bingo.  I spent most of my high school coaching career with the type of students you mention.  I've definitely gotten phone calls in the middle of the night due to insane emergencies that needed handled by a responsible adult and you as the coach are the closest responsible adult in their lives.

13 minutes ago, rjs4470 said:

I used the Remind app for many years as the main communication tool, and never had an issue. Personally, I was never a fan of using Social Media apps as communication channels to distribute and collect information. Remind offered a level of privacy and efficiency and I can't remember a single time where it failed over a 7 or 8 year period coaching two different sports. I always made it a personal policy to not connect with parents/players using social media after having issues with an angry parent or two in the early days of social media. Really, these apps are the best way to keep conversations private, as well as to reach players and parents quickly and efficiently, and allows you more control over messaging.

Like always, you bring so much common sense and experience to our conversations, thank you.

On 6/25/2025 at 1:23 PM, DearToday said:

Our school board has said we can retweet and like players posts. I think there’s some misinformation in that graphic. Our school board also said we can call students, but we can’t text them or have any form of direct messaging on social media etc. That if they reach out just don’t reply. And that it doesn’t matter if we follow them on Twitter as long as we don’t direct message. 

I see a lot of coaches reposting their kids getting scholarships and whatnot. Very common for HS Coaches to go on Twitter and DM college coaches too. 

2 hours ago, rjs4470 said:

I used the Remind app for many years as the main communication tool, and never had an issue. Personally, I was never a fan of using Social Media apps as communication channels to distribute and collect information. Remind offered a level of privacy and efficiency and I can't remember a single time where it failed over a 7 or 8 year period coaching two different sports. I always made it a personal policy to not connect with parents/players using social media after having issues with an angry parent or two in the early days of social media. Really, these apps are the best way to keep conversations private, as well as to reach players and parents quickly and efficiently, and allows you more control over messaging.

Did you know Remind sells the personal info of those using the app?  Phone numbers, emails, etc?

Many districts have rules against it because it jeopardized students info.

18 minutes ago, New Colonel said:

Did you know Remind sells the personal info of those using the app?  Phone numbers, emails, etc?

Many districts have rules against it because it jeopardized students info.

I don't think a school should ever use an app that sells student information.  I think that makes the school complicit if anything bad happens.

22 minutes ago, theguru said:

I don't think a school should ever use an app that sells student information.  I think that makes the school complicit if anything bad happens.

Agree ?.   The issue is most have no idea.

10 minutes ago, New Colonel said:

Agree ?.   The issue is most have no idea.

That is correct. This is first I had heard of this. Parent Square may not be too bad after all. 

Coaching for decades, I'm guessing 99% of parents will sign a simple waiver. Eliminating and covering all of this. You will always have 1 or 2 that will find a problem with it. But for the most part it would cover everyone legally. Keeping the status quo going.

2 hours ago, New Colonel said:

Did you know Remind sells the personal info of those using the app?  Phone numbers, emails, etc?

Many districts have rules against it because it jeopardized students info.

Remind was the app of choice for my school district. I've not been able to find anything to confirm that they do sell information, and they do explicity state that they do not sell or share information. I do know that they share information with other 3rd party platforms that help them do business, ie for service, support and messaging. That being said, do you really believe the social media platforms are safer and more secure? I've not heard of any instances of Remind causing an issue (I'm not saying this HASN'T happened, just that I'm not aware of, and haven't been able to find any such instances), but you don't have to look very hard and most likely know at least a few people who have had an issue with social media accounts getting spammed, hijacked etc. 

Personally, for me, my experience with Remind was VERY positive and allowed me to establish solid communication protocols, establish boundaries and maintain stricter control over communication without making communication difficult. Social media can sometimes be the wild, wild west of communication and there's nothing worse than waking up to a "message" an angry parent or fan decided to share on your teams social media account that either should have remained private or not shared in the first place. 

Their terms of service/privacy policy can be found here

https://www.remind.com/privacy-policy

 

1 hour ago, ChiefSmoke said:

That is correct. This is first I had heard of this. Parent Square may not be too bad after all. 

Parent square actually purchased Remind back in 2023. 

1 hour ago, BBHCEAGLE said:

Coaching for decades, I'm guessing 99% of parents will sign a simple waiver. Eliminating and covering all of this. You will always have 1 or 2 that will find a problem with it. But for the most part it would cover everyone legally. Keeping the status quo going.

Only if your district allows you to sign a waiver. Still waiting on guidance to be published from the districts here in NKY.  And I don't recall reading in the law anything about a waiver, I could have missed it though.

18 minutes ago, New Colonel said:

Only if your district allows you to sign a waiver. Still waiting on guidance to be published from the districts here in NKY.  And I don't recall reading in the law anything about a waiver, I could have missed it though.

I heard rumblings before the Dead Period about it being a possibility. But can't confirm or deny. It makes sense for everyone involved. So it probably won't happen lol.

18 minutes ago, New Colonel said:

Only if your district allows you to sign a waiver. Still waiting on guidance to be published from the districts here in NKY.  And I don't recall reading in the law anything about a waiver, I could have missed it though.

I think the new law allows for "a waiver like process" but it will take numerous individual written consent forms.  From the law:

A parent may submit written consent to authorize a designated school district employee or volunteer who is not a family member to communicate electronically with his or her child outside of the traceable communication system. The written consent:

(a)     Shall be filed in the administrative office of the student's school prior to any electronic communication being sent from a school district employee or volunteer to a student outside of the traceable communication system;

(b)     Shall designate a single, specific school district employee or volunteer per each consent form that may communicate with the student outside of the traceable communication system and shall not be transferable to any other school district employee or volunteer;

===============

Once you get the consent form format set electronically all you would have to do is print a bunch of them out, list the coaches/teachers you want to give consent to, and sign them.  

16 minutes ago, BBHCEAGLE said:

I heard rumblings before the Dead Period about it being a possibility. But can't confirm or deny. It makes sense for everyone involved. So it probably won't happen lol.

I would be surprised if schools would allow a waiver. Waivers are typically worth only as much as the sheet of paper they are printed on (which isn't much). If something truly awful were to happen, a waiver isn't likely to offer much protection. Waivers may make people and organizations feel safe, but if you have deep pockets, and something bad happens on your watch, a waiver isn't going to automatically stop a lawsuit. Not to mention that if all don't sign it (there will be at least some, if not many who don't) you'll still need to use an approved , secure communication tool to communicate with the non-waiver signing group. Which means you'll need to send messages through multiple platforms, effectively doubling your work, even if only one person doesn't sign the waiver. Extra work for little return is not exactly a beacon of efficiency in a coaches already busy day.

 

Here's a few other scenarios that were brought up to me by high schoolers.

1. This is for volunteers also.  So high school aged volunteers can't text their own friends, who are students?

2.  Many teachers have kids babysit for them or mow lawns or whatever.  They can't contact them directly now?

3.  Those teachers that have summer gigs like managing at a swim club.  They can't contact their employees now directly because they are students?