Using a Classroom Blog to Get Feedback from Parents

It is important for parents to feel that they are able to communicate with the teacher about their children.  As a teacher, I could create a blog to be a sort of online forum; if I had a question about what parents thought about a certain topic I was about to teach, or if they wanted to weigh in their opinions about whether one form of lesson would be more meaningful than another (i.e. a field trip to the aquarium or a visit from a marine biologist), or if they wanted to sign up for volunteering in the classroom - all of these discussions could be achieved through a blog.  The blog would serve as a sort of public forum where the teacher could discuss ideas with parents and the parents would not actually all have to be altogether in the same place at once.  This would also serve as a way for the parents to get to know the teacher better, the teacher to get to know the parents better, and the parents to get to know each other better.  The blog would be useful not only because it would allow a large discussion without necessary attendance, but because it would also be a place to create community.