Gmail in my classroom

I use gmail several times a day. I use the chat feature occasionally. My emails are organized into various folders to keep my inbox mostly empty to help me focus on the emails I still need to deal with or refer to soon. I use Google calendar and have several different ones that I have all filtered into one display. I have now, through the use of the tutorial, added the Google calendar to my gmail. I think this will make it much easier to identify conflicts when I am contacting someone about scheduling an event. I think it will be very beneficial.

The problem I have with using it in my classroom is that the administration in my school has prohibited students from being on their gmail accounts. Though I understand it is for reasons regarding school security, this prohibition unfortunately deprives teachers of a great communication tool for students. I hope we will be able to find a way to resolve this conflict as I feel it would be a great organizational element of our school.