Newsletters for Smarties Carl Sannito

It was the beginning of the year and I received a note in my mailbox reminding me that I was part of the dreaded "Newsletter Committee." Ick. 

"Not again," I mumbled to no one in particular. "I did it last year. Oh well."

Later that week, I went to the meeting and we all decided what types of information we wanted to put in our monthly issue. 

The idea behind the newsletter was to take everything that parents needed to know for that month and give it to them in one central location. The problem we had was trying to decide what should go in it. Me? I like to go for the flashy stuff. I want to see events at the school documented so the parents have some idea of what's going on here. I love pictures of the sports teams in action or of the children making presentations in front of their classes. The principal loves that kind of stuff. However, as she wisely reminded me, we also need to include the more mundane, yet certainly not less important, items, such as: dates to remember, introductions of new staff members, and changes in policies and procedures. 

All of that would have been fine IF she would have reminded us about all this BEFORE we put together a flashy first issue that read more like People magazine as opposed to the New York Times. 

Sigh. Back to the drawing board. 

Of course, she is right. You need a good mix of both content items to make a good newsletter for parents. So, because we were back at the drawing board, we didn't get our September issue out. 

If you're looking for ideas, take a look at some of these others for more ideas. 

http://www.happyvalley.sa.edu.au/newsletters.htm

http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic97.htm

http://www.online.tusc.k12.al.us/shortc/newsltrs/home.htm

Best of luck to you and I hope your newsletters get out earlier than mine!