School email is for school work, not socializing.

If your DC doesn't have his own non-school email or way to text, the best option would be snail mail, or allowing them to use a home phone/parent phone for regular phone calls.

My DD is able to text, but has been enjoying old fashioned pen pal exchanges with several friends the past several weeks.

If you have the parent's contact info, reach out and ask if there is a way your DC can contact their DC and then leave it up to the kids.

Anonymous wrote:I thought the mcpsmd.net email was for class use only. Once I sent a message to my kid's ~@mcpsmd.net, it bounced back and didn't reach him. When he sends emails to his teacher, he uses google gmail after logging in with with mcpsmd.net account.

The MCPS emails can only send/receive from other MCPS addresses.

This is why directories exist. Student ID numbers are considered confidential information so you can't just ask a teacher to give you another student's email address. I suppose you could ask the teacher to ask the other student's parents for permission to give their child's email address, but if the other kid's parents have to be involved anyways then you might as well contact them in the directory.

I thought the mcpsmd.net email was for class use only. Once I sent a message to my kid's ~@mcpsmd.net, it bounced back and didn't reach him. When he sends emails to his teacher, he uses google gmail after logging in with with mcpsmd.net account.

There's a class list for each of the courses. He can email directly from there, I think.

Our school counselor helped a friend contact DC - she just asked if DC would be willing to exchange emails through her.

I’m sure there are privacy regulations that prevent anyone else giving out a student’s email address. Your child would probably need to get it directly from the student themselves.

You or your child might contact the counselor to see if there’s any way they could facilitate connections, under these unusual circumstances.

MS DC knows the student id #s for only a very few of classmates. I'm encouraging DC to contact a school friend or two thinking it might help alleviate social anxiety.

In MyMCPS, some classes have a "people" option where you can see all the classmates listed but that doesn't give the contact info.

I have the parent's contact info in the PTA directory but would prefer DC be able to use school gmail to contact the friend directly.

Thank you.