Another idea is to send the teacher 20 questions and let them choose the 10 they want to answer. Start with an introductory paragraph of the basics. It's good to include all the staff, not just the teachers, as they're also a part of the kids lives each day.
Our newsletter includes what's going on at the school, not just PTO-sponsored events. We make sure we recognize/thank folks for however they helped that month, anything a staff member would like the parents to be aware of (i.e., kids standing on and damaging the toilets). Next year it will be "interactive" where we'll provide a page for parents to comment.
Our high school does this on a bulletin board near the entrance. It's called:
Teacher Feature
Since it's more directed at students (jaded, cynical high school students) they don't do the bio so much. They profile 3 or 4 teachers at a time with each one printed pretty big on its own sheet of paper. The page includes the teacher's name, picture, academic background, and either 2 or 3 questions. (Same questions for all.)
I think the questions are stuff like what they liked about high school or craziest thing they ever did in high school. It's pretty short pieces so you can read it while walking by. Not so much long paragraphs you'd have to stop and peruse.
But I do really like the name of the bulletine board.
I like the idea of spotlighting teachers and may add that to my newsletters next year.
I would recommending creating a newsletter that includes your schools logo and font. I also feel that making them color is a great way to make them stand out. This is difficult for many groups as they don't want to/can't pay for the copying fees. If you can get someone to donate this it would make a big difference. I also recommend not going more than 2 pages. Front and back is best if possible. Going any more and people stop reading.
I like including event descriptions in my newsletters. I discuss recent events, discussing turnout, etc., and try to always include a picture or two. Same for upcoming events. This way you are promoting what you have done, what you;re going to do and effectively communicating your group's purpose. I also include a president's update at the beginning of each newsletter, which gives me a chance to discuss certain things, like getting involved, big things we've done, what we're going to be doing, giving credit to others, etc. Here's a mink to one of my newsletters.
Our school does do a newsletter each month. We are the Bobcat Prints and they are the Bobcat Mews. Very cute huh? We don't duplicate information at all and folks are as interested at getting ours as they are the Principals...
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These newsletters are great...question for those of you who do have a PTO newsletter. Does your school ALSO do a monthly newsletter? Our school does so I don't know if another newsletter would be an option. But I do love how much info you are able to give about PTO events / recognition in these.
The PDF of the newsletter is now on the file exchange at this
link
.
The PDF, while showing the layout, does not allow for the columns to auto fill from page to page as the publisher file does. So I do recommend the publisher file for that simple reason.
To simplify the process (hopefully) I have uploaded the publisher formated file to this
link
. If there are any problems with it please contact me at the email above.
