AF: The problem and the solution

BACKGROUND:

This blog, and every blog I have ever created, is hosted using my personal gmail account.   I started my blogs in 2007, before we used Google on our campus.  I wanted to use Google to create the blog, so that's what I did.

Then, when our campus became a Google campus -- I didn't want to abandon all those blogs I had created previously by switching over to busd.k12.ca.us.  I sometimes like looking at the long list of blogs my students and I have created over the years.  It's my history.  Juggling the two accounts (personal/work) is sometimes a hassle (and, by the way, this is exactly what Hillary Clinton was under investigation for -- that fuzzy boundary between work and personal email, except her email was classified), but I've been able to manage it, and the blog work for both AP classes and ERWC classes has grown apace.  

PROBLEM:

But this year...this year, for some reason I am still not 100% clear on since it doesn't happen every time, if I send you an invitation from the blog, which is hosted on my personal account, your school account blocks it.  You cannot receive mail from an outside account.  You cannot even receive email from a regular busd.k12.ca.us account, which is what all of your teachers have.  This was done to protect you from being contacted by creeps, advertisers, trolls, and me.

SOLUTION:

I want you to give me an alternative gmail account to use for registering on the blog.  If you don't have one, please create one:  it's easy and it's free.  And please, ask your parents to read this message because I am making an end run around a policy that was created to protect you from creeps, advertisers and trolls.

IF YOU ARE ALREADY on the blog with your school email, just continue.  That is what is so weird to me.  Some of my kids DO use their school email for blogging, and it is no problem.  But the vast majority send the request, I send the invitation, and they never see it.

WHAT I HAVE ALWAYS DONE TO KEEP MY STUDENTS SAFE:

• The class blog is semi-closed, which is why you must send me an email in order to write on the blog.  Anyone can read this, but only invited members can write, so you will never read a post or receive a comment from anyone but the students in the class, or me.
• The blog is not searchable or publicly listed.
• I read the blog regularly, and check comments, in case anyone within our community starts posting things that are out of bounds.

Happy Second Day of Summer!