1. a widely-read school newsletter that goes home to parents;
2. good relationships with the teachers and the administrative staff, including the secretaries and other support staff in the office;
3. active, reliable class parents;
4. a school handbook spelling out dates and regular fund-raising events for the year;
5. an up-to-date school phone directory; and
6. a school Web site.
1. School Newsletter
Our school newsletter, the BackPack News, has been around for fifteen years. It is a four-page newsletter, 11” X 17” folded once, printed in black on colored paper and issued weekly. By printing black ink on colored paper, we get the excitement of color but pay for only one-color-black-printing, which is much less expensive than four-color printing. Our regular features in the BackPack News (BPN) are:
• principal’s column
• parent association president’s column
• schedule of upcoming events
• classified ads
This invaluable tool is also important for publicity for upcoming fund-raising events. We request and thank volunteers, publish the success of our events, request donations, and let the parents know about changes in the school in the BPN. It’s a big job to get the newsletter set up. But once you have settled on a format, type style, basic departments and a logo, it’s not so difficult. We have a stable of different people who construct the BPN from parent submissions. Every week a special packet folder is placed in the school office for newsletter submissions. Each week the editor picks up the folder on Thursday afternoon. If you can get ten people with computer access to agree to edit and type four editions of the newsletter, you’ll have the year covered. Sponsorship should cover the cost of printing the newsletter. Sponsors receive acknowledgment and a large ad in the newsletter.
The parent association pays for printing of the BPN. But we defray the cost by selling sponsorships to advertisers like summer camps and insurance and real estate agents. For a few hundred dollars, a business can reach more than five hundred families. If you have just a few people selling sponsorships at the beginning of the year, you can run a newsletter cost-efficiently.
In the school office every Monday morning, a parent volunteer counts out the correct number of copies for each class and puts them in the teachers’ mailboxes. The teachers distribute the newsletters to the kids to take home every Tuesday. The deadline for submissions is Thursday if handed in on paper, or Friday by e-mail (since it doesn’t have to be typed in). Classified ads are free to all P.S. 87 parents. Nonparent classified advertisers pay $25 per ad. Help-wanted ads are also accepted free of charge. Ad length is determined by space availability, a decision determined by the editor of the week.
2. A School Web Site
A school Web site is extremely valuable as a tool to disseminate information. You will have a technologically savvy parent in the school who can construct the school Web site for free. Some teachers put their homework assignments on the Web site. That way, if children are absent or their memories are unreliable, the parents can access the homework assignments and make sure the children are getting it all completed on time.
A really efficient school Web site can contain the school newsletter, too. You can also sell advertising on the Web site.
3. Good Relationships with Teachers
Our parent association makes it a point to support and acknowledge teachers. The teachers are the lifeblood of our school. Most of our PA funds go to support our teachers and improve the school environment for our children. Teachers’ help with fund-raising is vital. It’s the teachers, not the parents, who hand out the forms and information for our wrapping-paper and magazine drives. In fact, it is the teachers who:
• collect fund-raising forms
• create class projects for the auction
• create class booths for the street fair
• create a quilt to be old at the auction
• offer to take children out for breakfast or pizza as an auction prize
• bring their classes down to bake sales and book fairs
• disseminate the BackPack News every week
And, of course, in addition to those and a thousand other things, they teach our children. So we do everything we can for the teachers.
On parent/teacher conference nights, throw a potluck dinner just for the teachers. In the evenings, the teachers are too busy with conferences to go out for dinner. Supply delicious, homemade food in the cafeteria so the teachers don’t have to go hungry.
We give free tickets to the auction to the teachers. Many teachers prefer to stay home with their own families than to spend Saturday night with the parents of the kids in their class, but still, the gesture is warm and inclusive.
We allocate class funds from our fund-raising for every teacher. Our classroom funds provide $200 for each teacher or a $400 fund for a new teacher or a $300 fund for a teacher who is changing grades. The teachers decide how to spend the money. However, receipts are required for each expense. All expenses are submitted to the treasurer for approval.
We also make sure to honor special requests from the teachers. Nancy Goldstein, an excellent third grade teacher, appealed to the PA board one year for money to print a book of P.S. 87 children’s poetry, open to all the children in the school. The expenditure was approved and a stunning book was produced.
Robin Ulzheimer, a fifth-grade teacher, won a grant to create a reading garden. When the money fell short before the garden was finished, the PA provided the additional funds to complete the project.
In our newsletter, we publicize many teachers’ wish lists for supplies, furniture, appliances, and books for the classroom. Our parents fulfill as many wishes as they can.
We host an appreciation breakfast for teachers every year.
And those are just some examples. A good relationship between the PA board and the teachers is essential. Ask your board to come up with eight ideas for showing teacher appreciation. Pick two or three and make them happen. After all, everyt...
