Communications Archive

How your group communicates with its members and the school community can affect its success. Newsletters, email, even the Open House speech—our writers and editors cover it all. You'll find tons of tips and ideas for good communication in the articles below. When you're done reading, head over to the Message Boards to connect with other leaders.

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• A Simple Communication System - To help parents keep up with news, events, and activities, use a "communications envelope" to send school and PTO correspondence home with students on a regular schedule.
• A Tool To Manage Volunteers - PTO Manager helps you find and track volunteers, and manage your finances more efficiently.
• Create a PTO Website That Works - Never created a website before? No problem! We'll walk you through the process, from getting a domain name to promoting and maintaining the site.
• Create an Effective Survey - Gathering feedback from parents and teachers can help build support for your programs. These tips will help you create a survey and evaluate the results.
• Permission Slips That Work - Permission slips are often sent home with kids for school activities, but most of them don't provide any legal protection for the school or the parent group.
• Talking Points That Build Involvement - Use this list to address the questions and objections that people raise about getting involved in your parent group.
• Create a Mission Statement - Talking clearly and intentionally about group goals can inspire your PTO and help make decisions to achieve them.
• Dealing With Disagreements - Find the right words so that difficult conversations don't derail the group's work.
• Email Communication Tips - How to use email effectively while avoiding common pitfalls that lead to miscommunication and misunderstanding.
• Take an Involvement Inventory - Periodic evaluation of your group will reinforce successes and help deal with areas that need improvement.
• Put On Your Sales Hat - These five basic principles of good salesmanship will help you build parent involvement.
• The Language of Leadership - To grow your group, have a focused message and then match actions to words.
• Parochial School: Marketing Campaign Keeps School Open - Low enrollment, a declining local economy, and the departure of the school administrator made parents sure their Catholic school would be the next to close. What they did not only prevented it but also established the school even more strongly, and earned the group recognition as PTO Today's 2006 Outstanding Parent Group at a Private School.
• Recruit Volunteers by Phone - "Can you make a few calls?" may be the single phrase volunteers least like to hear. A simple system can make the task less stressful and more successful.
• Communication for Middle School PTOs - Middle school parent group leaders share the messages and communication strategies that have helped them build involvement.
• Buying a School Sign - There are lots of choices to make when you choose a school sign. Here's what you need to know.
• Basic Marketing That Builds Involvement - There's a simple reason why some parents haven't gotten involved: They don't know what your PTO is or what it does. Change that by communicating with parents the right way.
• How's Your Q Score? - When parents think about your PTO, what kind of feeling do they get? Marketers call that a Q score; here's why it matters.
• Is Your School Parent-Friendly? - From the staff to the building to the materials sent home, there are steps PTO leaders can take to help make their school a place where parents feel comfortable.
• Involvement Matters: What To Tell Parents - Hundreds of research studies show that when parents get involved, children do better in school. We sum up the details that every parent should know—and you should tell them.
• Send a Powerful Message - You can use communications to improve your group's image and boost involvement. Just put the focus in the right place.
• Don't Say It! - 12 casual comments that discourage involvement, 12 positive alternatives that build it.
• A New Focus on Communication - How one group repaired its image by reaching out to parents.
• Fundraising Help From Local Businesses - Partnering with neighborhood businesses for donations, discounts, or manpower can increase fundraising resources—and build a connection between the parent group and the community.
• The Buzz: Wrong Number - Automated telephone, email, and text message alerts make mass communications easier than ever, but high-tech still can't completely eliminate human error.
• To Build Support, Celebrate Success - Make publicizing your group's good works and thanking the people who contributed to your success a year-end priority.
• The Buzz: High-tech Tools - More parent groups are embracing new technologies to communicate with busy moms and dads.
• How To Work With a New Principal - A change in school leadership is the perfect time to look at the role of the PTO; parent leaders and administrators share how they forge strong relationships.
• Customer Service Secrets You Can Use - The most successful businesses know how to create loyal customers. You can learn from their techniques to build strong parent involvement.
• Make Your Group a Resource - If people think of your group as welcoming and helpful, they'll turn there first when they have questions—and the PTO will gain their support and loyalty.
• Creating a School Directory - It's a project that takes careful planning and attention to detail, but the resource that results will be well-used and will help your group serve parents.
• Make New Families Feel Welcome - Holding out a helping hand when families first arrive at the school pays off in increased involvement and a stronger parent group later on.
• Rebuilding Relations With Teachers - One parent group regained the trust of teachers by responding to their needs and keeping them informed.
• Unpaper Your PTO - Cutting back on how much paper your group uses will mean less time copying—and more money saved.
• Beat the Midyear Volunteer Slump - A focus on recognition and communication can help energize your group's recruitment efforts.
• Stop the PTO Drama - Drama seems like a fact of PTO life—but it doesn’t have to be.
• Parent Groups Barred From Backpack Express - Recent lawsuits brought by an organization called Child Evangelism Fellowship over access to backpack communications have affected parent groups' ability to distribute information about events, volunteer opportunities, and fundraisers via student backpacks.
• Getting the Word Out - Tips and best practices for making your PTO communications more effective, both in print and online.
• How To Write a Press Release - Get more publicity for your next event with these simple steps for contacting the media.
• Communication Tips for Better Involvement - How you reach out to parents can help build involvement—or it can work against your group. We'll help you get it right.
• Flyer Communication Tips - How to make the most of flyers for your PTO's events and other activities.
• Group Email Communication Tips - What you need to know for sending effective email messages to parent group members.
• Newsletter Communication Tips - Creative ideas and best practices for effective parent group newsletters.
• Online Communication Tips - More and more parents are looking for information on websites or through social networking. Here's how to help them find what they need from your PTO or PTA.
• Welcome Packet Communication Tips - A welcome packet is a great introduction for new families to your PTO or PTA. Don't miss this opportunity to engage more parents!