Family communication guide
Penn Alexander School Communications
Once you create a Membership Toolkit account, you will begin receiving updates from school administration, teachers, the HSA, and the School District of Philadelphia. Here is what to expect and where to find key tools.
Create or update your HSA website accountHow PAS keeps families informed
From school administration and teachers
ePony: Dr. Kreidle sends this weekly, one-stop email from the principal every Sunday night. View the ePony archives.
Teacher updates: Expect a weekly email or message from your child’s classroom teacher. Families in grades 4 and up should also receive regular updates from additional subject teachers. Teachers may use Google Classroom (more common in older grades) or ClassDojo (more common in younger grades).
Morning announcements: Principal Overton begins each school day with announcements to students.
Urgent robocalls: Principal Overton may send a robocall for extremely important news.
Community calendar: Subscribe to the PAS Community Google Calendar, managed by Dr. Kreidle.
From the HSA
HSA newsletter: A weekly email with reminders, a featured event, volunteer opportunities, and shout-outs.
Room parent messages: About once a month, each classroom’s room parent shares volunteer opportunities and fun PAS events not to miss.
App notifications: With the Membership Toolkit app, you can receive push notifications, check the directory, make payments, and sign up to volunteer.
From the School District of Philadelphia
District updates: SDP sends periodic emails and occasional robocalls with District news and announcements.
Student records: Sign up for the SDP Parent and Family Portal, also known as Infinite Campus, to view your child’s grades, attendance, and report cards.
Social media: PAS also uses several social media platforms. See the teal bar below this page to sign up.
What is Membership Toolkit?
Membership Toolkit (MTK) is nonprofit membership software that hosts this HSA website and sends most HSA emails and newsletters.
MTK is also a payment system for field trips, event tickets, pretzels, donations, and more. Other features include the school directory and volunteer forms.
Some pages require you to log in, which helps protect our school community and children. Volunteers—mainly HSA board members—manage everything on this website.
The website can be translated using the language option at the top of the homepage.
The free Membership Toolkit app is available for Apple and Android.
Create your account in five steps
| 1. | Open the account form and complete it. |
| 2. | Watch for a verification email from MTK. Its link expires in two hours. |
| 3. | Click the email link to verify your email address. |
| 4. | Add your contact and student information, then choose your directory access. |
| 5. | Click SAVE before leaving the sign-up process. |
