Our school sends out a monthly newsletter and so does the PTO. The PTO newsletter basically states some major points from the PTO meeting, upcoming events sponsored by the PTO and some of the upcoming school events. The school newsletter has a calendar of upcoming events and information from the principal.
The parents love the PTO newsletter, our secretary does a great job of putting it together. Its only one side of a paper, before it was two pages and I don't know how many people actually read the whole newsletter.
Do a newsletter! It's a wonderful way to keep your parents in the know. It also helps to promote your fundriasiers and your volunteer of the month. It's also a great way to ask for volunteers for specific events. My newsletter is called the Chalkboard, great clip art and nicely laid out. Maybe one of your families who work would be willing to publish it for you. Working families want to participate in thier child's education as well, but are limited for class time hours. Go ahead with the newsletter, the parents and faculty will love it.
We have a monthly newsletter. We include not only upcoming events and activities, but also items from the principal, the resource teachers (i.e., art, PE, etc.), and excerpts from different PTA publications. Occasionally, we will put in response forms as well. It works for us to consolidate a lot of information into one format. We also are fortunate to have a "publicity" chair who coordinates everything. This person is also looking into emailing the newsletter, as a way to cut down on printing costs.
We publish a weekly newsletter reminding parents of the important information from our school calendar (meetings, picture day, etc.) We also use it to announce awards that students have received. At the bottom, we also provide a checklist for parents, such as Return Fundraising Order Sheet, Return Science Fair Project Form, Send in Labels and Boxtops. It helps to let parents know what is happening in the school, and where we need their help too!
Our school publishes a newsletter every other month, but I think it would be better if it went out more frequently. It is so valuable in keeping parents informed and involved.
Our newsletter usually includes the calendar (3 months at time) on the front page, along with messages from our Principal and PTA Prez. The interior includes school & PTA news (both past events and upcoming) and articles on parenting, families etc. Fundraising progress is reported on the back page, along with names of the exec board, contact info, etc.
Our local PTA council distributes a Newsletter Judging Standards (the Council awards recognition to outstanding newsletters in the school district). The document is based on our State PTA Guidelines and is very helpful in designing a newsletter especially if you're starting one from scratch. If you like, I can send it your way. Just send me an email with "newsletter standards" in the subject line and I'll send the document to you in MS Word format. Send to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
I can't imagine not having a newsletter, but with todays technology I can see why people don't want to mess with it. The other elementary school in our district does not, one of their parents was complaining to me they never knew what was going on, she didn't even know the president was someone she had went to school with all her life until I told her.
Newsletters are pretty easy. I like to use a column format with clipart, but this years prez just types out the info. We also put a monthly calendar on the back. The mom that used to do it used some kind of Microsoft progam and it was always adorable. One time I got behind so I made one on my trusty Printmaster (a Wal-Mart special).
On the plus side. If you have a parent that would like to be more involved but has scheduling conflict, that would be a great project for them. Or if you have a computer or journalism club of some sort the kids could use it as a project.
Unfortunately we do not have a school newspaper or newsletter, so PTO newsletter are the best way of getting our info out. We also are in a poverty level county so there is a lot of people that don't have a computer much less access to the net.
