Takizaka Elementary School, Chofu City

It is a very old school, celebrating its 150th anniversary next year. Regarding PTA activities, we are very grateful for the cooperative system with the school teachers. I think there are many cooperative teachers.

The current number of students is 526.

Currently, there are 3 classes per grade, but next year the first grade will have 4 classes. It seems that the number of elementary school students in Chofu City as a whole will increase.

It seems that the number of children in Chofu City is increasing, and it is certain that it will continue to increase for the next 6 years.

It seems that remote work is increasing even in Tokyo, and many people are moving from the 23 wards to the suburbs.

There are about 2 households where both parents are foreigners.

For households that cannot read letters, the homeroom teacher sometimes explains to them.

A parent from China using a smartphone purchased in China could not download Miley. The app store only showed Chinese apps. So we communicate with them via letters.

I will ask them to try the web version.

We were told not to use the "Contact School" feature in Miley to contact the school.

How do schools that use Miley mainly use it?

In Chofu City, there is an email address for absence notifications that is determined for each school. For school announcements, we use a safety email system.

Announcements to all parents are checked by the school, but announcements to some parents are not particularly checked.

It might be a remnant from when we distributed on paper.

When we were looking for a tool for PTA communications, last year's vice president found it for us. Does Miley advertise for PTAs?

In the Miley article that the vice president from the previous year brought, there was a photo of Mr. Kato with a big smile. (laugh) It said, "We ultimately aim to be a tool that digitizes the region as well."

I think we looked at other tools, but the problem was that they had ads. The fact that Miley has no ads was a big factor.

Also, the price was very cheap. Recently, at a PTA president meeting, more schools are considering app implementation. When they asked me about it and I said "The cost per household per year is 50 yen," everyone was surprised.

When comparing with other tools, I thought it was exceptionally cheap. I think tools with ads are problematic for PTA use.

Also, in the article that the vice president brought, Mr. Kato wrote that he also served as PTA vice president and wants to "make it easy to use for PTAs," which I could really relate to.

Thank you very much.

One countermeasure was to establish a standing organization called the PTCA Executive Committee, instead of changing members every year in a top-down manner. We wanted to make it so that even if the board changes each year, the information is properly handed over. For this system, we thought that it would be difficult to maintain the records if we tried to manage them with paper, and we thought we should use IT.

In the case of Takizakagaoka Elementary School, unlike junior high schools or high schools, students are close to their residence, so many people stay for three years. In other words, after they finish their youngest child's graduation period, they tend to lose touch with the PTA. In other words, the PTA doesn't feel like "my thing," so there are many households that say, "We pay membership fees, but when we graduate, we're done." In that situation, even when introducing a new service, we couldn't adopt something that would increase the burden on everyone. For example, if we were to raise the membership fees.

Also, in a PTA, a certain percentage of people will say, "Why do we have to pay for this?" or "Doesn't the city pay for it?" I think it's because many people don't know what it means to be a PTCA member. We felt it would be necessary to properly explain those things.

In a general meeting, we discussed whether it was okay to pay 180 yen per person per year, and that was approved. At that time, of course, there were negative opinions, so we heard those.

There were opinions like, "What about people who don't have smartphones?" and concerns like "What about people who aren't good with smartphones?" However, Miley can also be used on a PC. Looking at the current situation, even those who said, "I can't do it," were able to send messages after we explained it.

Foreign residents also had questions, so we made a simple manual with illustrations. Also, at first there were questions about, "How do I log in?" so we explained it on the orientation day. After that, everyone was able to use it.

Since Takizakagaoka Elementary School has many foreign households, they also bring smartphones to the orientation day and show us, so we explain it in real-time at that venue. There are households where neither the father nor mother can speak Japanese. In such cases, since elementary school students can now speak Japanese, we ask the children to teach their parents.

After we started the trial, there was less waste, and people could confirm what they needed immediately without having to search through paper. We received feedback that this convenience was great. Also, in the past, when things were managed with paper, when someone asked "Did you receive this?" it was difficult to trace back, but now it's much easier to search, so I think it's very convenient for information organization.

The trial started in January, but the new members in April smoothly accepted it.

I think the greatest benefit is that we don't lose things. With paper, we had to look for it thinking "Where did I put it?" but with Miley, we can search the chat rooms and the information is there, so I think it's very beneficial. Also, we don't have to carry paper around, which is a big help for us (board members) who have to move around for meetings.

When we send out documents now, we don't have to make copies, which has greatly reduced the amount of paper used. I think this also contributes to SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). We don't need a dedicated cabinet for the PTA anymore because there's no paper to store.

When I was also considering using cloud services like Google Drive or OneDrive, I was concerned about security issues. I thought it would be better to use a dedicated service for PTAs. Also, in a general cloud service, if someone quits the PTA, you have to worry about whether they might still be able to access it or not.

With Miley, you can delete accounts, so I think you can manage information more securely. Also, since everyone's accounts are in one place, we can confirm who has registered at a glance.

With general cloud services, even if you set access permissions, you have to do it file by file. That would be quite troublesome. We wanted to avoid that kind of trouble.

I think it would be better if parents were aware of it and used it a lot, but for now, I think it is not being used enough yet. I think that if we use it more and more next year, the perception will change.

We repeatedly explained at parent meetings how to download the app and that we only use email addresses for personal information.

Yes, that's right.

We explained many times at parent meetings, and Ms. Abe created many easy-to-understand materials. All the officers did their best to inform parents at meetings and through letters about how to use it.

Also, before the implementation began, we had the previous year's officers try it out.

First we used it with officers, then expanded to class representatives. Then we had all parents use it, following these steps.

In the current situation, only 8 households are not using Miley.

For households not using Miley, we communicate via letters. There are also some families who are not PTA members.

The storage problem has been completely solved. With paper, we were always searching for "Where did I put it?" but now all you have to do is search. Also, there are fewer things to carry around.

Previously, there was a lot of time spent on printing documents and circulating them. Now we've replaced it with Miley, so we can share information immediately.

We used to go to the board room to check for papers that had arrived. But now we don't have to go there as often. Also, the time spent on the phone during business hours has been drastically reduced.

Previously, if someone called during business hours and we couldn't answer, we'd have to call back, which took a lot of time. Now, using chat, we can read and reply at our convenience, which has made a big difference.

Since all the exchanges are accumulated in Miley, we can just grant access permission to the handover destination. With paper, we had to explain "There's this document, and we discussed it like this," which took a lot of time.

Also, when working on the same thing, we used to make copies of materials and distribute them to everyone, but now we can just share one file in a chat room. This has reduced both time and cost.

Yes, I think they have been resolved. Also, we can now work from home, which has made PTA activities more accessible for working parents.

Previously, we used to handle contact lists with phone numbers and addresses, but now we only need email addresses. I think this significantly reduces the risk of personal information leakage.

Also, previously, if we needed to contact someone, we had to look for their phone number in the contact list, but now we can contact them directly through Miley. I think this also improves efficiency.

Yes, that's right. Also, since we don't create contact lists, parents don't have to worry about "Will my information be leaked?" I think this is a big relief for parents.

Parents have told us, "I can check information on my smartphone anytime," which is very convenient. Also, "I don't lose papers anymore," which is helpful.

Also, parents who work have said, "I can check during breaks or commuting time." I think time flexibility has increased.

Yes. Also, since the notification function is enabled, people can immediately notice when new information arrives. Previously, there were times when people would say, "I didn't know because I didn't check the paper."

We use a feature called "renrakumou" (contact network). This allows us to contact everyone at once in emergency situations. It's used for things like "Tomorrow is a school closure" or "An incident occurred near the school, so please be careful."

Yes. Previously, we used phone trees for emergency contact, but it took time for information to reach everyone. With Miley, everyone can see it immediately.

Also, with phone trees, there were times when information didn't reach the next person because they didn't answer the phone. With Miley, we can confirm who has read it, which is very convenient.

Yes. We can see who has read it and who hasn't. For those who haven't read it, we can follow up individually.

Yes. Also, since we can attach files to the contact network, we can send detailed information at the same time. Previously, we could only convey verbal information by phone.

Previously, we had to create handover documents and explain them one by one, which was very time-consuming. With Miley, since all the exchange history is accumulated, we can just grant access permission.

Yes. Also, since past discussion history remains, if you have questions like "What did we do about this issue last year?" you can search and find out immediately. With paper, you had to search through many documents.

Also, since file sharing is possible, you can refer to materials created by previous board members as they are. You don't have to recreate materials from scratch.

Yes, that's right. I think this is a big merit of using Miley. Traditionally, when board members changed, know-how was lost, but now it is being properly accumulated.

Yes. Also, new board members can learn how to do things by looking at past chat room exchanges. I think this shortens the learning time.

I have two requests. The first one is, "Can we send photos directly in chat rooms?"

I would like to make the chat room titles a little longer.

When searching for users, it would be helpful if group names were displayed. Currently, only names are shown, so it's hard to tell which group someone belongs to.

Also, when adding members to chat rooms, it would be convenient if we could add by group. For example, "Add all members of the executive committee."

I think tags are very useful, but I wonder if more people could use them. Currently, not many people use tags effectively.

We use tags like "urgent" or "important" to categorize messages. But we'd like to be able to search by tag.

Also, it would be helpful if we could see a list of tags that have been used in the past. That way, we can standardize tag names and avoid creating similar tags.

Can reading names be made mandatory? Without reading names, the user list doesn't sort properly and rearranging becomes very difficult.