National PTA and BAND Team Up to Support Family-School Communications

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Aug 24, 2020, 10:13 ET

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- National PTA announced today it has teamed up with BAND to help facilitate and improve two-way communications among families, schools and PTAs—and increase family engagement in education. Through the alliance, BAND will also support National PTA's Reflections program and the association's celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week.

"Technology like BAND is helping to make it more convenient for families to be involved in their children's education and strengthening family-school partnerships. This is more critical than ever as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and many families and schools are continuing with remote learning," said Leslie Boggs, president of National PTA. "National PTA is pleased to team up with BAND to equip PTAs, families and schools with another tool to help them communicate and collaborate."

BAND can be a timely, modern, no cost solution for PTAs that need to virtually coordinate activities and events and share information. National PTA will be launching a dedicated PTA BAND for PTA leaders across the country to connect, share tips and resources and improve how they operate virtually. National PTA and BAND will also create educational resources on ways to increase and improve two-way communication between home and school, as well as share information on how to use the BAND app safely and effectively.

"We are delighted to be teaming up with National PTA to provide school communities a safe and effective way to communicate during these challenging times," said Steven Lee, CEO of BAND. "BAND helps make it easier for parents, teachers and PTA members to stay connected and organized while embracing distance learning. At BAND, we are committed to providing our communities the scheduling, instant messaging, video calling and other critical communication features needed to accelerate student growth now and in the future."

BAND will be a supporting sponsor of National PTA's Reflections student art program. The program encourages students of all ages to create and submit original works of art in the medium of their choice that reflect on an annual theme. PTAs will have the opportunity to explore how the BAND app can help improve how they coordinate their Reflections program. BAND also will be a supporting sponsor of National PTA's Teacher Appreciation Week, which is marked the first full week of May every year to thank, elevate, celebrate and support teachers.

"National PTA is thankful to BAND for helping us celebrate, recognize and honor our nation's teachers and student artists," added President Boggs. "It will be great to see and share all the creative ways that PTAs use BAND to communicate, coordinate and celebrate, even when we can't come together in person as we normally do."

About National PTA
National PTA® comprises millions of families, students, teachers, administrators, and business and community leaders devoted to the educational success of children and the promotion of family engagement in schools. PTA is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit association that prides itself on being a powerful voice for all children, a relevant resource for families and communities, and a strong advocate for public education. Membership in PTA is open to anyone who wants to be involved and make a difference for the education, health and welfare of children and youth. For more information, visit PTA.org.

National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product or service. No endorsement of BAND is implied. Learn more about PTA's Non-Commercial Policy.

About BAND
BAND is a leading group communication app that makes it easier to stay on the same page, and it's always free. Leaders use BAND to communicate with and manage their teams on one platform through critical features like group messaging, notifications, calendars, RSVPs, pictures & videos, polls, video calls and more. Over 40 million groups and 8 million coaches, teachers & leaders are already using BAND, including PTAs, schools, youth sports teams, small businesses, and many other groups. BAND is available for free on iOS, Android, and the web. For more information, visit https://about.band.us. In honor of our alliance with National PTA, we are giving away special t-shirts to all members of 100 PTA units that use BAND across the country, so get the details here at http://bit.ly/bandforpta.

SOURCE National PTA